Story 2: Better than Perfection
by Myannah
Summary: A continuation from Photographs and Memories. Reid's Childhood sweetheart is a magnet for mayhem.
1. Chapter 1

Better Than Perfection

A/N: Okay, Please know now that I deleted Perfection and added this one instead. I was having trouble writing Perfection as it was and decided to start over. Some of this is the same at Perfection, but note, I changed the town and the whole beginning with Reid and Jessie.

Prologue

Rosaryville, MD

It is twilight in the town of Rosaryville. A young woman walks out her front door, putting music in her ears before setting off for a jog. She runs for a very long time, loud music blazing in her ears. By the time she turns around at the elementary school, it is dark out. Cars still drive down the streets but most of the traffic is gone and she heads home calmly. She gets really close and takes a quick break to change the music. She stretches and sets off again. She turns at a sharp corner, and disappears… The street is quiet as death.

Chapter 1.

"Have no fear of perfection - you'll never reach it. - Salvador Dali"

With a big simultaneous sigh, the BAU finished up for the day. The overworked team members packed more work into their bags and head out to their hotel rooms. In the lobby and up the elevator, the team shared some small talk but it is crystal clear that they were all drained.

"So, how'd they find her?" Morgan had just mentioned Jessie's trial in DC and had to drag the information out of Reid.

"Not guilty." Reid wasn't reluctant to talk about it; he was just so tired he couldn't put two proper sentenced together.

"Of course she's not guilty," Hochner intercede d. Neither Reid nor Morgan had any idea Hotch had been within hearing distance, and both jumped when he spoke. "Is she getting her job back though?"

"I don't know." Reid said and when Hotch seemed unsatisfied with the answer he added, "I'm not sure she wants it back."

Hotch nodded, greeted everyone within hearing distance and went into his room.

"Where is she now?" Morgan asked quickly.

"Still in DC." He forced himself to say more. "Her friends just got back from their honeymoon, so… they had a party tonight."

Morgan checked his watch. "Alright man. I'll see you in the morning."

"Yeah, Good night." Reid mumbled as he opened the door to his own room. After closing the door behind him, he stood there wondering for a few seconds what to do next. He couldn't wrap his head around the simple thought of moving forward. He shook his head and walked over to his bed. He hardly had time to change his clothes before he slipped into blissful slumber.

The next morning, Reid was woken by a knock on the door. He stumbled to the door and opened it without checking who it was. To his greatest surprise, Jessie stood in front of him, snapping him out of his daze.

"You knocked…?" he asked confused.

"The hotel might press charges if I break into their rooms. You… Not so much."

"Jessie!" he said before pulling her into his room and kissing her blissfully. She pulled away and giggled.

"Spence! What…" she pulled on his shirt that was halfway off. "I guess it's good that you managed out of _one_ sleeve before dozing off." She pulled it off completely and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"Tired." He said, but didn't want to waste time on trivial things like sleep. "What are you doing here?"

"You were supposed to be at the police office half an hour ago." She noted, not letting go of him. He checked his watch and realized she was right.

"Oh man!" he turned to get ready, forgetting that Jessie was holding on, and they fell to the floor. She burst out laughing and motioned for him to calm down.

"Why should I calm down? I'm not the one laughing hysterically!" He said while getting up. "But I have to get to the office."

Jessie calmed down and jumped up. She grabbed Reid by his belt and stopped him. He bent forward with an 'oof' sound and took a second to figure out what was holding him back.

"Hold on Spencer." She said with a grin. "I love it when you're clumsier than me. Evens out the playing field."

"I'm late." Reid said and headed to the bathroom.

"You're not!" she said as she stopped the bathroom door from closing.

"I was supposed to be there 30 minutes ago. You pointed it out, remember?"

Jessie tilted her head to the side and pouted with a sigh.

"What?" Reid didn't know what she was doing. What he did know, was that she was confusing him yet again.

"I changed your watch." She said.

"When? How?" Reid opened his phone and saw a different time. He grabbed her wrist and checked the time.

"I have my ways." She said with another sly smile.

"I don't like your ways." Reid stated and sat down on the bed. "You did break into my room."

"Before I knocked on the door." She moved closer and sat down on his lap.

"I knew there was something fishy about that." Reid said with a frown. Jessie tapped his forehead, ironing out his frown and kissed him.


	2. Chapter 2

Better than perfection.

Chapter 2

Twenty minutes later, Reid was dressed and ready to go to the office. He had already changed his watch back to the correct time and walked out of the bathroom to see Jessie lounged on the bed.

"You know what I just realized?" He asked her. When she shook her head, he continued. "You still haven't told me what you're doing here."

Jessie's head bowed in shame and then stared up at him through her long lashes. Reid sighed and sat down next to her.

"Aaron. Hotchner," Jessie said his first name as if they were on casual speaking terms but corrected herself flawlessly by adding his last name. She looked at Reid to study his face. "Called me here."

Reid frowned again and Jessie didn't seem up to explaining anything. She took a deep breath and reluctantly explained what she knew.

"Apparently JJ had to leave early this morning for a family emergency."

"And Hotch wants you to what? Fill in for her? She deals with people… you can't do that."

"Why not?" her voice was a high pitch, slightly angered by his words.

"I mean, you're more of a profiler than she was. You can obviously do the job. Hell, you can do all our jobs, it's just… weird."

"Well, I'm only forty minutes away, so I don't mind. It means I get to spend more time with you." She planted a kiss on his shoulder and pushed him off the bed. "But if we don't go now, you will be late. And so will I."

When they got to the Rosaryville police station, Reid and Jessie were talking about visiting their family members in Las Vegas. The two of them were so comfortable together and their affection came so naturally that they didn't even realize they were holding hands when they walked into the conference room. With fingers entwined they greeted the rest of the team, who only briefly frowned at the public affection.

"Jessie's here to fill in for JJ. Henry got sick early this morning and has been admitted into the hospital. JJ will be back as soon as he's okay. For now, Jessie will be standing in as Media Liaison." Hotch said. "Okay, we got a new victim." Hotch handed out new files. "Claudia Ginning was found in the play park near her home, early this morning. Reid and Rossi, go over to the crime scene. Morgan, Prentiss, you head over to the victim's home. Jessie, you're with me." He didn't give any room for questions and headed into an office. Reid greeted Jessie with a nod and walked out with Rossi. Jessie stared after the leaving members and then followed behind Hotch.

In the office, he gave Jessie a summary of her immediate duties and then those for the long term. After that, he got her up to speed with the case.

"Four women in Rosaryville have been found dead. What the police didn't realize at first was that the women are all altered after death. Their skin was bleached, Hair was dyed, piercing taken out, dressed and then 'displayed' for the public to see like art work. Claudia Ginning was the fifth victim. So far our rough profile consists of a white male, approximately 25 to 35 years old. Most likely attractive, because he can lure the women away without a fight. And rich. The clothes he puts on the girls are label brands. Something like Louis Versace."

"Louis Vuitton and Versace are two different brands." Jessie interrupted him. "Chances are, he's gay too."

"Why do you say that?"

"Only gay guys know to dress a pretty girl in Louis Vuitton. What else? What's their cause of death?"

"Asphyxiation."

"That's weird." Jessie looked at the photos of the previous victims. Something familiar tugged on her memory but she didn't know what, so she ignored it.

"This case is exactly about weird. And you're the only person I know who is an expert at that." Hotch confessed why he wanted her in on the case.

"So this guy is a necrophiliac?" she asked confused.

"Actually no." Hotch was just as stunned as she was. "There's no proof to suggest that. The coroner was sure of that."

Jessie had nothing to say to that. Her face twisted into a confused mask as she searched for answers.

"That's why I wanted you on the case. You're an expert on weird." Hotch said. Only then did Jessie realize that she had mumbled "weird" again.

"But I'm befuddled, perplexed, confused. That doesn't make me very useful."

"Don't worry. You're perfect….."At that moment, the deputy walked in and Hotch stopped talking. Jessie knew that perfect was only part of the word, she knew he was saying she was perfectly fine or something in that line, but it still bugged her. She suppressed a grunt and simply chagrinned.


	3. Chapter 3

Better than Perfection.

Chapter 3.

Jessie's chagrin twisted and turned so many times in the next hour until it was unreadable. She was torn between her emotions and was giving her facial muscles an exercise. She was trying to sift through the information Hotch had given her while being annoyed with herself for having to try so hard. She felt discomfort every time she looked up from her papers and saw the media conference about to take place. She was calm too, within sight of every media person who mattered in the county.

When Jessie smoothed out another frown with a very deep sigh, Prentiss got a little concerned. She and Morgan had returned just in time to show Jessie to the crowd of reporters.

"Are you okay?" She asked. "You know there's nothing to be nervous about."

"I'm not nervous." She said calmly. It was the truth. "I don't like attention."

"Didn't you do a Magazine cover about a year ago? That must have brought you plenty of attention."

"I was bored." Jessie closed her eyes with the annoyance of that memory. "The magazine just wanted to do a routine article on the work but when the photographer saw me… everything changed. I was bored enough to agree to the photo shoot without thinking about the consequences."

"And the attention sucked?"

"Always does." Jessie opened her eyes again and braced herself for the conference. She turned back to Prentiss for a second, avoiding her task. "I'm a klutz and Hyperactive. I had to learn how to sow myself up to avoid the ER every now and then."

"It's time." Prentiss said to Jessie. She didn't want to stop talking, this girl was really interesting, but she could talk later. Jessie gave Prentiss the speech notes and headed up to the podium. There was a brief moment of silence before the air erupted in questions and flashes of cameras.

At that moment, Reid and Rossi arrived and stood aside with Prentiss and watched.

Prentiss handed the speech cards over to Reid and asked, "Doesn't she need these?"

Reid chuckled and tore them up. "Jessie has a photographic memory. And she has Low latent inhibition."

"What does that mean?" Rossi asked.

"Latent inhibition is a measure of reduced learning about a stimulus to which there has been prior exposure without any consequence. Most people are able to ignore the constant stream of incoming stimuli, but this capability is reduced in those with low latent inhibition. It is hypothesized that a low level of latent…" Reid quoted Wikipedia but Prentiss cut him off.

"Plain English please. We don't speak '_Genius'_."

"It means she processes more information than we do. She doesn't just see a room; she sees everything in it with painful detail. She sees the fabric that the couches are made of, the rug, the lampshades…"

"I see that too." Prentiss said.

"She sees the wires that hold the materials together, the washers in the lamps, the bulbs; it's microscopic what she sees. Wait. Here's a better example; at a glance, she doesn't just see a page in a book. She sees all the letters immediately reading a page at a time… instead of a word or letter at a time."

"Wow. She seems perfectly perfect, doesn't she?" Morgan commented.

Reid frowned, knowing that Jessie didn't like that assessment. And knowing that it was hardly true.

"I mean she's beautiful and smart." Morgan misinterpreted Reid's frown, "you don't really get all of that in one person."

"Hey," Prentiss got a thought. "You and Jessie have been living in close proximity for years. Why is it you never made contact until now?"

"She was mad at me." Reid answered truthfully.

Up on the podium, Jessie felt a shiver go down her spine. She stopped talking for a brief second and everyone thought she just ran out of breath. And it truth she did. For that brief moment she forgot how to breathe. She quickly picked up where she left off and continued. While she raced though the info, she paid more attention to who was watching. She assessed the emotions on their faces. No one appeared out of the ordinary. She was relieved when she reached the end. She thanked everyone for listening and promised to update them as the case continued.

With a sign of relief, she stepped off the podium and even more relieved when she laid eyes on Reid. Morgan and the others left already.

"Someone was watching me." She whispered as she grabbed Reid's arm. She looked around at the scattering crowd, avoiding his eyes.

"Everyone was watching." He said with a chuckle.

Jessie finally looked up at him. Panic burned clear on her face.

"Jess." Reid frowned and pursed his lips. He touched her cheek tenderly and sighed. Jessie closed her eyes as his breath washed over her face. It calmed her. She blinked several times before nodding and eventually looked back up at him.

"Your right. It was nothing. Just stage fright."

But unknown to them, a man with dark curly hair, blue eyes and a rather handsome face was spying on them. He lifted his camera and took a shot; just as Reid bent down and kissed the top of Jessie's head.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

After everyone returned, they shared the new information and wondered about this profile. They mauled over the case and eventually broke apart for lunch. Reid and Jessie walked to a restaurant just down the block and talked about the case on the way over. At the restaurant, they ordered their drinks and food and settled in for the wait.

"Jessie," Reid started a new subject, "did you hate your parents for getting divorced?"

"Of course. Which teenager doesn't?"

"You weren't a teenager when it happened…"

"Right." Jessie allowed.

"…I'd think that you'd have been over it by then?"

"Well," She had to take her mind of the case and everything else and think about it. This seemed so important to Reid that it was downright hilarious. Jessie looked him in the eye as the thought it over. "I guess I was mad at them once. I remember yelling at my dad about it. Wait. That argument had more to do with you…" she trailed off and looked down, not wanting to explain.

Reid let it go for now, he had other thoughts he wanted to wheedle out of her.

"But did you give up?" He asked, suddenly nervous. "On the whole sacredness of marriage?"

Jessie stared at him, fighting a smile. In fact, fighting a laugh. "For most of my life I believed in happily-ever-after like a child. There came a time when all my dreams where shattered," she stopped cold and tried to recover. "I mean when I really thought about how asinine happily-ever-after is," she didn't want to upset him by telling him how badly he had damaged her on her eighteenth birthday.

"But now?" Reid had winced when Jessie stopped cold. It was as if she had said it was his fault anyway.

This time Jessie was going to fight against answering his question. She knew how she felt and didn't want him to know the truth. Or the lie. She didn't know which would hurt him more. So, she figured out a way to divert his attention. "But my parents never divorced. They just separated and lived in different countries. Your parents however…" she watched him as she spoke and was glad that he didn't get angry when she turned the question onto him. "Did _you_ give up, Spencer?"

Reid wasn't fooled. He knew what she was doing and wasn't going to let her get away with it. "I was over it before it happened. They weren't exactly a match. But, Jessie. Please tell me." Reid had moved closer and held her face in his hands, locking her eyes to his. "Do you believe that marriage is worth it?"

Fear rushed through her as she tried to think of the right thing to say. The right answer to give him. She figured the truth would hurt too, but at least it would not be a lie.

"No, I don't." she whispered. "Marriage isn't for everyone and even in the best cases it doesn't work out all the time. It takes a miracle to keep a marriage going forever. For it to work through all the tough times that life pushes at you. And miracles are few and far between and even though I'm happy now, I'll always be scared that something is going to ruin everything, because that's what always happens to me. Just when I get comfortable in my greatest happiness, something happens that sweeps it all out from under me." Somewhere in the middle of Jessie's speech, Reid let go of her thoughtlessly, like dropping a hot iron. But she had kept her eyes on his. Waiting…


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

His face was blank and shock ran through his entire body. But he could not comprehend what she had just told him. It sounded to him like she said she didn't believe, and also, that the reason for that was him. During this exchange, Morgan had walked into the restaurant and upon seeing them, headed over to their table.

"Hey guys. Mind if I join you?" Morgan asked and without waiting for an answer, sat down. Jessie had to remind herself to breathe. After a second, she snapped out of her daze and turned to smile at Morgan.

"Of course not." She said but there was a strange edge to her words.

Morgan picked up on the tension and tried to find a way out.

"I'm just getting take away for me and Prentiss; I won't bother you for long."

"It's not a bother." Jessie said while eying Reid. "Right Spencer?"

"Right." He mumbled. Jessie breathed again, glad that Reid hadn't gone into physical shock.

Morgan ordered his lunch and Prentiss's and walked to the counter to wait for it.

"I'll see you guys in a few." He said as he paid for the lunch. Jessie rose from her seat and joined Morgan.

"Hey. What's wrong?" he asked her.

"I have to go back to work. I have more things to worry about than most of you." Then Jessie walked out the restaurant with Morgan. Reid sat there for several minutes. He went over her words in his head and went into a state where he was wondering if any of it had happened at all.

Jessie walked back into the office and went straight to work. She was trying to distract herself from the horrible mistake she'd just made. A couple hours later, Hotch walked into her little makeshift office and was astounded at the work she had done in such little time. She had papers, pictures, notes and simple post-its all over the wall. Hotch couldn't help but wonder if this was a real representation of what was going on inside her head.

"You know, you don't have to be perfect." Hotch said simply.

"Tell the world." She replied harshly.

"You don't have to do this on your own. The whole team is out there working on the same thing." Jessie stopped her writing and looked up at him as if he's crazy. "I know I said I want you on this team because you're the expert in exceptions but you might want help."

"I'm just looking at it from a different perspective. When I have something solid, I'll share it." Jessie turned back to her work.

"You don't have to be perfect." Hotch repeated as he turned for the door. "It's not possible."

"Of course perfection is possible. I know we're only human but we are made in God's image, so we must be capable of perfection. The only question is: who's definition of perfection?" Jessie wasn't looking at Hotch as she spoke. She had turned part of her brain back to her mind puzzle. Hotch walked out of the office with a frown.

A couple hours later, Prentiss went into Jessie's office to tell her that work was over for the day. Hotch had ordered everyone a good night's rest. And Jessie only left an hour later.

Arriving at the hotel, Jessie decided not to go talk to Reid just yet. She had a feeling he might not like her all too much right now, but she didn't want to go to bed without talking it over with him. But she decided to leave it until the morning.

So, early in the morning, she knocked on Reid's door, knowing he would be up and knowing he would be suspicious of her knocking. Reid opened the door, knowing it was her.

"Morning Jessie." Reid opened the door and let her in, checking his watch and the clock on the bedside table suspiciously.

"Hey." She simply said.

"I thought you'd have come last night?"

"working late. You were sleeping by the time I got here."Jessie wasn't looking at him. She was scared of seeing the hurt still in his eyes.

"Trying to impress your new boss?" Reid snapped. Jessie looked up at him, fire burning in her eyes.

"I don't have to try."

"No, of course not. He's already in love with you as it is." Reid had noticed the way Hotch acted around Jessie. Well, the way everyone acted around her. Like she's so absolutely spectacular. He also remembered the moments when he had felt that very same way about her. Right now he was too mad to think like that.

"Well what if he is? Does that change anything?" Jessie was defensive, fully capable of drowning Reid in pain. This was an instinct she had developed in the months after her eighteenth birthday.

"Not anymore. Not after what you said yesterday."

"I was telling you the truth. Would you prefer if I had lied?"

"I don't understand you, Jessie!" Reid was defensive too. But he didn't want to hurt her. "I thought you loved me, and then you went and said something like that. I don't know, sometimes it feels like there's two of you. The one I'd very much like to kill and the other one that I can't live without."

Jessie had stopped listening at the beginning of the last sentence. Her whole posture changed as she marveled over his words. She was no longer in a fight with him, but somewhere in a mental place resembling something virtual that looked like the inside of a computer filing system.

Reid watched her after he stopped talking. He knew she wasn't on the same wavelength as him anymore and that frustrated him even more.

"There isn't two of me" Jessie mumbled. And then she started repeating the word: "Two" over and over again as she headed for the door.

"Jessie, will you marry me?" Reid ripped her right back into reality and she stopped and turned to face him. Her emotions and mind was torn. This was what she wanted from him. Regardless of what she told him the day before. But he had some bad timing.

"could you ask me again later?" she said without thinking. "I mean I got something here. No, I don't. Not yet. But I will, and then this whole thing will be sorted out and we do this again."

Reid was offended. Not hurt or anything like that but just angered.

"Jessie, there might not be a later." Reid said truly.

"And that's a risk I'll have to take." She said pointing at him and sped out the door.

Reid picked the ring out of his pocket and stared at it. He wondered if there would be a later. And he decided, as he stared at the thin band hand-me-down diamond ring, that there would be a later. Even if he had to turn the planet upside down. He would ask her again. He might even make the moment more romantic. At least – he'll try.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6.

Reid headed off to the office an hour later. He avoided the coffee area and Jessie's make-shift office, just to stay clear for a while. After another hour of processing information, another body was discovered and the team was split up to go to the morgue, dump site and family members. Reid went with Morgan to talk to the boyfriend and found himself in another man's hell. Tyler Brantley, boyfriend of the latest victim, Mandy Clearwater, was a wreck. He couldn't put two sentences together without tying them with worry. He'd been up all night, since she didn't get home after work the previous day. It turned out that she had never arrived at work in the first place. Tyler kept repeating things as if to make sure it was true and he fought real hard not to cry.

When they got back to the office, there was a question about whether it was the same serial case. This woman was not altered. She had blonde hair when she left for work, and when she was discovered. But she was asphyxiated. That was the only link.

The team considered possibilities that it was just a copycat or a different case entirely. Things settled down again and Reid silently went over the case at his desk. Trying to think of what clue Jessie might have been after that she had told no one about.

Hotchner walked into the office and went straight to Jessie's office where he simply turned around and walked back out.

"Where is Jessie?" Hotch asked Reid. Reid felt ashamed that he didn't know the answer.

"In her office?" he asked more than answered.

"No, I just checked. She's not there." Hotch said with a frown. Reid frowned too. Jessie had a clue this morning. Where would she have gone?

"Garcia?" Reid asked again, instead of answering.

"I just talked to Garcia, she wasn't there either." Hotch was getting upset. Reid picked up his phone and dialed her number.

"Hey…" Jessie's voice sounded excited through the loudspeaker. "I'm busy right now. Leave me a message and I'll call you right back."

"Jessie, it's Spencer. We're just wondering where you are. Call me back." Reid said after the phone beeped. He walked to the front and looked for the front desk clergyman. "Did you see Dr. Lynden leave?"

"Dr. Lynden?" the poor new guy asked, trying to think through all the new names.

"The pretty girl. Brown hair, green eyes." Reid said harshly. And to his annoyance, the guy's face instantly lit up with recognition.

"Yes. She came in this morning for about half an hour then she left in a rush."

Reid walked back to the team who was waiting for him.

"Are you guys fighting?" Hotch suddenly asked. That took Reid off thought.

"No, yes. No not like that. She didn't leave angry. She had a clue and left happy. I think." Reid informed him what the clergyman said and started rethinking about Jessie's mood when she left. Maybe she did run away because she wasn't ready to face him ever again.

"She's a professional. She wouldn't avoid work over a personal fight." Hotch stated, pulling Reid's attention from his darkening thoughts.

"Wow, that girl's got one awesome ride," Morgan stated when he paraded into the office. "Why does she need a Chevy Corvette Grand Sport Convertible?" Morgan stretched the name out as if building up to a climax. He suddenly noticed the mood in the room and forgot about the car.

"You saw Jessie?" Reid asked.

"No, man. Just her car. In the parking lot."

And then Reid raced out. Hotch jumped on the phone and sent out a lookout alert for Jessie.

Reid raced into the parking lot and found Jessie's car easily. It was never hard to find the bright yellow sports car. The top was down – which was his first indication of trouble. Jessie hated the sun's effect on her car's leather seats and although she drove with the top down, she always closed it before she walked away. Morgan followed behind Reid and found the car in the same condition it was in when he walked past it. Hotch had told Morgan that Jessie was missing and they started thinking in profiler mode.

Reid turned around frustrated and raced back into the station. He started pacing around the small area. Morgan walked back in and held up a purse with gloved hands.

"Is this Jessie's?" He asked. Reid's mouth and through went dry as he laid eyes on Jessie's only non brand item, her purse. She had made that thing in Vegas when she snuck into a fashion class at the university her grandmother used to teach at. It was one of a kind. Black leather, lace, velvet and foe-fur with red stitching. The red stitching was a touch that Reid had suggested.

The panic in Reid's face answered Morgan's question and he decided to start looking through her purse.

"Where did you find that?" Reid rasped.

"In the trash can at the parking exit." Morgan answered and pulled out Jessie's phone. He pulled out some makeup, a hair brush, sun glasses, her wallet, a small notepad and a couple of pens. He turned the purse upside down and a small photo drifted out.

"Okay," Hotch was in full Profiler mode, "what are we thinking? Is she missing? Taken by the killer?"

"She fits the victimology. In a way. She's brunette, pretty and the time fits. Dumps the last body before taking the next." Morgan answered.

"He took her in day light, though." Hotch commented.

"He must have been following her for a while. Probably since the TV conference yesterday. It makes sense. It explains why the latest victim wasn't altered. He took that girl, noticed Jessie and dropped all his things and went after Jessie."

"But why Jessie?"

"Because she's his perfect girl. She's already what he wants."

Reid suddenly remembered what Jessie had said to him after the conference.

Flashback

"Someone was watching me." Jessie whispered as she grabbed Reid's arm. She looked around at the scattering crowd, avoiding his eyes.

"Everyone was watching." He said with a chuckle.

Jessie finally looked up at him. Panic burned clear on her face.

"Jess." Reid frowned and pursed his lips. He touched her cheek tenderly and sighed. Jessie closed her eyes as his breath washed over her face. It calmed her. She blinked several times before nodding and eventually looked back up at him.

"You're right. It was nothing. Just stage fright."

End of flashback

Reid felt as if his whole body started burning at once as reality set in. Jessie's suspicion, all the case facts, and his own knowledge plummeted onto him, crushing him into his own personal hell. Jessie was gone. And Rosaryville's serial killer had something to do with it. Something snapped in Reid's hand but he didn't notice until blood started dripping from his clenched fist. In fact, it was Hotch who noticed the blood. Reid's mind was broken. He was dead inside. Because he knew Jessie's fate. She would be dead soon. Sooner than they could stop it, because they had no clue, no idea who it was; they had spent weeks without knowing, weeks that they could not catch this guy.

Reid was suddenly aware of a terrible strangled screeching sound and then the ground seemed to move closer to his head. He didn't realize that the sound was coming from him as he struggled to breathe. He didn't feel anything but the burning pain as he hit the floor. However, he was dazedly aware of people panicking around him and medical personnel suddenly talking to him while checking him out.

Reid closed his eyes and let the fire take him. Everything went black.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Jessie slowly became aware of silence and kept her eyes shut. A dead silence that you only heard when you either have earplugs in or when you were far away from civilization. If she concentrated hard, she could hear wind moving through trees, or the occasional bird. But when she concentrated that hard, she only became more aware of the headache she had. It felt to her like she had a hang-over's hangover.

Jessie mentally searched for any physical but found nothing major. She felt a strange pressure to her waist. Something heavy was on her stomach while something else dug into her back. She turned to her side and felt the pressure move above her hip and the pain underneath her.

She was aware of being on a bed, with a pillow under her head. She moaned at the headache that all her thinking had caused. Her movement had stirred someone who then moved closer. A hand touched her forehead and she fought the instinct to move away from the touch. She was very aware of the person hovering over her. A strong perfume of shampoo and shaving cream burned in her nose.

"You'll be okay," a slightly familiar voice whispered in her ear before planting a kiss on her temple. She recognized the voice but it sounded a little softer, gentler than she remembered. But at that moment it scared her because it was not where she had expected to hear it again. Not that she knew where she was.

The man stood back and walked out. Jessie counted the steps until they faded away. She listened for a few more seconds before opening her eyes.

Jessie was alone in a rather large room. Not a traditional bedroom, but it would suffice. There were no mirrors in the frames and no chair by the desk. The room had no window but two doors. Rather two door-less doorways. One going to a bathroom and one to a large empty room. She looked up and quickly back down from the bright florescent light high above her head.

She looked down to see what was wrong with her waist and lifting her shirt, she saw a thick heavy metal chain tied around her. She followed the chain with her eyes and found a pile of chain on the floor and then the other end going to the wall. Jessie calculated that the chain might just be long enough for her to move freely (if free is the right word) around the room and the bathroom, but she won't be able to reach the other door.

Jessie didn't move again, at fear that the chain's noise might bring her captor back and that it would spark another wave of headaches. But over time, she felt the ache subside. The fog in her head cleared and she became aware of more detail in the room. She noticed how strong the chain was fixed to the wall and how closely the chain was tied around her waist. She saw the sound proof ceiling tiles and how the walls held soundproofing inside them. She saw this through a fist width whole in the wall. The paint on the wall was new, and it just covered a badly done wallpaper removal.

Jessie wanted so badly to think of Reid, and to worry about him worrying but she couldn't spare a too long thought to anything outside the room. Her eyes and mind drank in every detail of the cold room and she processed and saved all the information.

As time passed, Jessie's mind started connecting facts, thoughts and ideas. Devising a plan to get out of there. While, at the back of her mind, she was trying to keep track of time.

When her head was clear and her plan was set, she slipped her hand down the bed and rattled the chain. She smiled when her captor started moving again in the other room. She closed her eyes, pretending to sleep, and waited. He walked in and saw her still asleep. Four hours had passed and she was still out of it. That worried him and he walked to the bed to check her heart and head again.

He laid his hand on her forehead and on her heart and got a shock when she didn't seem to breathe. He tilted his head closer to hear and suddenly Jessie grabbed his neck and twisted. He yelled in surprise and in pain but reacted quickly, pushing her away from him. But all this commotion dragged him onto the bed without footing. Jessie jumped up and out from under him but he grabbed her and pushed her back onto the bed. She struggled with him and felt herself loosing the fight as she had no strength.

Finally, Jessie screamed in agony as something sharp cut into her skin and stopped her struggle violently.

"Look what you made me do!" He said and threw the knife to the far door. His hands were covered in blood as he tried desperately to stop the bleeding. And to Jessie's surprise and horror, he placed his bloody hands in her hair and started kissing her face.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." He kept repeating in whispers. Jessie fought real hard against the blackness that was trying to cloud her again. With a deep sigh, she drifted back into the darkness.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

A/N: so I want reviews sometime. I just want to know what part you guys want me to continue on and what you want to stop in the story. And just give me plain encouragement. It motivates a person, you know.

Reid opened his eyes to a really small room. He was on an uncomfortable stretcher bed with no idea how he got there. Then everything flashed back to him and his whole body started burning again. Jessie!

"Hey man, slow down." Morgan said when he walked in and saw Reid standing up. Reid hadn't even noticed himself moving.

"Where's Jessie?" Reid asked with a dry throat.

"Sit down, man." Morgan insisted. "We're on the case. We'll find her."

"What did I miss?"

"You probably shouldn't work on this case, Reid. Let us handle it."

"I can't sit around and watch you work, and I can't just do _nothing_. Beside's I know Jessie."

"She didn't run away or anything. She was taken." Morgan added quickly.

"I'm the only one who will know how she'll react in situations. At least I have a better idea than anyone else."

"All right man, you'll have to talk to Hotch. But I agree with you about that."

Reid got up and followed Morgan back to the conference room.

"…I tried real hard but I can't get a reflection anywhere. I sent the footage to someone else to recheck. But I think it's the van. It's a matte black and it doesn't reflect." Garcia was saying to the team gathered around the monitor.

"Garcia, can you show me the footage?" Reid asked when he walked in. Hotch looked reluctant to let Reid see. "I'm going to go insane if I don't help." Reid stated and Hotch allowed it.

On the monitor, Jessie was opening her door when suddenly the door of the van next to her opened up, grabbed her with a cloth over her face, she went limp and was dragged into the van. Then the van took off. It was mere seconds but changed everything.

"Again…" Reid asked. "Please." He added remembering his manners. "But slower."

This happened several times. Reid even asked Garcia to pause at certain frames. Eventually, he asked her to play everything, from the moment the Van arrived. The team had already seen this but allowed Reid to go over it again.

The van pulls into the spot next to Jessie's car. The black roof of Jessie's car is up and everything looks normal. No one gets out of the van and no one can be seen. Then Jessie dances back to her car while the roof automatically opens. She drops something into her purse and the footage continues on from the previously over-watched scene.

When Jessie was grabbed, her keys dropped out of her hand and onto the ground. And she was taken with her purse on her shoulder. Garcia had other footage of the garbage can where a hand extends out of the dark tinted windows and drops the purse in the garbage. Again, no evidence or usable footage.

After an hour of going over the footage and discussing any possibilities, half the team started giving up on that. Reid's mind was working in overdrive and sometimes he forgot to breathe. After another hour he thought of something.

"What did she drop into her purse?" He asked a near-empty room. Morgan sat up as if he just woke up.

"What?" was the only response. Reid stood and got the evidence bag, holding the contents of Jessie's purse. The makeup, a hair brush, sun glasses, wallet, notepad and pens felt heavier than they should have a right to, in Reid's shaking hands. The photo was stuck between the notepad and her wallet. The word 'Two' was written on the back.

The man in the picture was unfamiliar to Reid. And it was detached from its original file so they had no idea where it belonged. But it seemed to be their only clue. Reid remembered Jessie repeating the word as she ran out the hotel room. And he started repeating it as he rushed into Jessie's makeshift office with the only clue.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Jessie was surprised to wake up. For one thing, she wasn't sure that she was really awake. The last time she saw that room, it was surrounded by ocean water and a dragon guarding the tower. None of that had made any sense. She blinked several times to make sure she was awake. And then reality sunk in. She was guarded by a dragon, just metaphorically.

Her head was still in a cloud as Jessie became aware of the music playing somewhere. She recognized the cloud as a morphine hangover. And felt a tinge of déjà vu when she scanned the empty room. She felt both heavy and empty at the same time. She assessed herself mentally again. There was a strange whole in her hip that she couldn't wrap her head around and her skin pulled against a large bandage around it. Her skin at the bend of her elbow screamed against a strange pull and it burned. Jessie turned her head to see a needle stuck in the bend and dark liquid pouring in. She followed the tube up to a bag of blood that was replacing what she must have lost. Her attention was suddenly drawn to the dry crusty feeling on her skin from the dried blood.

She grunted. Not caring if her captor heard her and not caring what he'd do this time. Her head wasn't out of the cloud yet but she didn't care. To her surprise, he did not come in. Jessie yanked the chain and yelped when it rubbed on her bandage. Still, he didn't come in. She sat up and ignored the pain it caused, both in her head and on her hip. With a deep breath, she stood to her feet – and notice her shoes were taken. She couldn't help but roll her eyes. As if being barefoot is going to stop her from running away.

Eventually, Jessie was surprised when he suddenly stood behind her. She jumped when she heard him and turned to face him, making sure she had room to move if she had to.

"Jessica," he simply said. The name, as well as the sound of his voice, surprised her. Jessie had not been called 'Jessica' in years. She deliberately introduced herself as Jessie because Jessica sent chills down her spine. Even now in this strangely distorted near-familiar voice, it nauseated her. He didn't do anything but stare at her. He looked her up and down, and flinched every time his eyes went over the bandage. And every time he reached her face, he sighed.

Jessie suddenly felt stupid. She wanted to ask him who he was, but if he was who she thought he was, he'd laugh at her and make her blush. She took a couple seconds to word her question right, but no matter how she phrased it, it sounded moronic.

"What's your name?" she asked and then held her breath, anticipating his reaction. But he merely smiled shyly.

"My name is John." Relief flooded through her. She wasn't as crazy as she thought. She really didn't know him.

"Where am I?" she continued. He ignored her question deliberately.

"I'll be taking care of you, until Richard comes home." John added and her relief was cut short. She knew Richard.

_Oh crap!_ She cringed internally. She wasn't planning on seeing him any time soon. And despite the headache it caused, Jessie started planning a way to get out.

"Are you hungry?" John asked but Jessie didn't respond. "I'll bring you some fruit or something. Richard wants to have dinner with you tonight if you'll agree to it." Jessie frowned at that. She has a choice?

"And you'll probably want to wash up too." He continued.

Jessie felt her mind return and with it came several questions and dangerous thoughts.

"John," she said when he turned to leave. "Are you going to kill me?"

He stood, staring away from her for a minute, as he deliberated. He then faced her with sadness and frustration.

"Richard won't like that." The words were simple but his eyes showed a deeper meaning. He wanted to kill her, but he wouldn't be able to. Richard, (God bless him right now, Jessie thought) wouldn't let him.

"You should take a bath. Your favorite shampoo and soaps are in there." John said and turned to leave again. "I'll bring you something to wear."

"John." She stopped him and he turned just his head. "The chain?"

"It'll reach." He whispered and walked out without another word.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Reid raced into Jessie's make-shift office looking for the link to her clue. The office was in such disarray that was any military officer's nightmare. Papers, photos, facts and notes were covering every inch of the walls and desk. So much so, that the paint and wood could not be seen. Reid sighed, acknowledging that the room was in fact what he liked to call: a Jessie-mess.

Everything would make sense to her. Her filing system seemed strange, unethical and unorthodox, but it was the way her mind worked. Morgan followed behind Reid and upon seeing the Jessie-mess, he sighed too.

"Does any of this make sense to you?" Morgan asked as he pulled off a purple post-it.

"No, no, no!" Reid exclaimed. "Put that back." Reid grabbed the post-it and searched for its rightful place. Morgan pointed it out as he rolled his eyes and Reid stuck the purple post-it perfectly into place.

"Reid? Do you get any of this?" Morgan repeated.

"Jessie's mind works like a three dimensional Puzzle; if you have all the pieces and put them together, it makes perfect sense.

"Do we have all the pieces?" Morgan got frustrated.

"We do now." Reid held up the picture from Jessie's purse and looked for its place in the chaos. Morgan sat down and flipped open Jessie's Laptop. "You're not going to get anything," Reid said distracted, "That thing is way more than just password protected." Reid stated while he read through all the notes on the walls.

The computer switched on to a sea blue screen with a dummy-proof request for a password.

"You were saying?" Morgan teased a little and started typing.

"It's not going to be my name." Reid stopped him.

"When's Jessie's birthday?"

"She wouldn't use her birthday." Reid was halfway through the notes on the wall. "Or mine" he added quickly.

"What's her password then genius?"

"I don't know." Reid stopped for a second to think. "I know it won't be simple. It won't be bank codes, high school locker combinations or a book or CD she likes. With Jessie's mind running the way it does, it will be something completely random. It might not even be English."

"Wait; don't tell me she speaks ten languages!" Morgan got more frustrated.

"No not quite. Just five."

"Just?"

"Emily speaks four languages. Five's not that much."

"Alright, alright! How do we figure out the password?"

"Remember when I said Jessie's mind is like a three dimensional puzzle? Well, it is more like a four dimensions."

"What?" Morgan prepared for one of Reid's long explanations.

"It's like seven rubrics' cubes working together to form a whole new and complex puzzle. What that means is, there's no way we can figure it out. It would take forever."

"Got it!" Morgan reached for his phone. "I'll get Garcia on it".

Morgan dialed the number and called Garcia with the speaker on loud.

"Baby girl," he started, "I got Reid here and we've got Jessie's computer. We need…"

"Oh no no no no!" Garcia exclaimed. "Don't ask me to hack in!"

"We need to..."

"I can't."

"I know you can do it"

"It's not that I can't, but if I hack in it makes it real and I don't want it to be real."

"Baby girl…" Morgan urged.

"I know, I know. It is real! Get a grip. Okay" then Garcia started working and after a few minutes, she cracked the code and got past the password. "Password was 'Voetsek'." Garcia added. "Do you know what that means?"

"No." Reid said reluctantly after Morgan expectantly stared at him. "Jessie's grandmother, 'Ouma', used to say it. You pronounce it_ 'foot-sack'_. I think Ouma's birthday was a week ago, Jessie might have been thinking about her when she changed the password this week."

"What did you find, Garcia?" Morgan wanted to get back to the point.

"Her most recently viewed files are inaccessible. I don't have that kind of clearance. But it is on her hard drive, although encrypted, and I'll get some information…." Garcia was working hard to help. "There! I got a name! Richard Mason Santio.

"Santio?" Hotch asked after Reid and Morgan had given him that information. "Wasn't he…" Hotch recognized the name, just as Morgan and Reid had.

"…a suspect?" Reid finished Hotch's sentence. "Yes he was, and had been eliminated because his alibis checked out for all the murders."

"Why was Santio suspected?"

"He discovered the first body. He owns a Morgue out in the middle of nowhere, but which is close to the first dump site. And he's just plain creepy."

"Morgan, we don't suspect people on their level of creepiness." Hotch said harshly. "I remember him now. We spoke briefly. But JJ conducted that interview and mostly talked to his assistant anyway. When his alibis checked out by more than three people, we moved on. We have his work address; it must be where Jessie was heading. We'll start there."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

A/N: this is a short one. But I figured to put it up while I'm still working on the rest.

Jessie stared at the dress that hung from the doorframe. She stood in a bathrobe, inside the bathroom and focused on the simple material, the off white stretchy cotton, and the neat seams. It didn't hang there a minute ago, she'd just turned her back for a second and it was there. The fact of the matter was, she liked the dress. It was a Chanel summer dress and she loved it. But she didn't like that she was expected to wear it. John walked in and set a shoe box on the floor. He didn't look at her but simply set a Victoria Secret bag on top of the box and left.

Jessie contemplated wearing the clothes she had on before the shower, but when she started looking for them, they were gone. So she had no other option than the dress. Or the bathrobe. And she didn't want that. After several minutes of thinking, she looked in the box and bag and started getting dressed.

After several minutes, Jessie was dressed. And she didn't know what to do. The morphine cloud had worn off and pins and needles were starting on her right hip. She had taken a peek under the bandage and was surprised to see the skilled stitching. The cut was bigger than she thought at it explained the amount of blood that was still on the bed. And her eyes flew to the bag of blood that had poured into her until she woke up. She didn't realize when she had pulled out the needle and guessed that it must have happened while she was in a daze.

John came in and quickly made the bed, and took the bag of blood and his whole medical kit without saying a word. And then he was gone. Time became very important as Jessie started counting the seconds as they ticked by. 462 seconds later, Jessie heard a door slam and it sounded like it was coming from upstairs. Only then did she realize that she was in a basement. 137 seconds later, Jessie looked to the door and got the shock of her life.

Richard had slipped silently into the room and was staring at Jessie. His expression was one of admiration, longing and victory. Jessie's mind went blank. Richard was beautiful. His thick dark hair was slicked back, his face was newly shaven and he stood in a business suite – minus the jacket and tie. He looked exactly as she remembered him.

"Jessica," he whispered and chills went down her spine. Thrilling chills. A grin broke on his face and Jessie couldn't help but smile back. She had missed him and suddenly he was right there in front of her.

But Jessie's subconscious was tugging on her and her brain was fighting to warn her of a danger that she couldn't remember or even understand. A tear trickled down her cheek as she stayed stuck in her place. Richard saw the tear, and walked closer. It was just a hug, but it filled Jessie with a whole different set of thoughts and emotions and when he let go to look at her, the tears where gone, and so was Jessie's rational mind. She was with Richard. Her safe haven.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Flashback

Eighteen year old Jessie was stuck to the bottom of the elevator. She didn't care about the hotel guests that were staring at her as they went between floors. She didn't care that the air-conditioning was freezing or that the annoying bell rang in her ear every time the doors opened. Eventually the elevator made its way up to the top floor and when Jessie saw the shock on one of her guests, she closed her eyes and willed herself into darkness.

Days later she got out of bed, determined to forget everything. She compartmentalized her whole Reid life into a very small fragment and hid it in the back of her thoughts. Jessie buried herself in her books and studies and since she was studying in Seattle, she didn't have to be nice to anyone. But she kept to herself and studied day in and day out. Her class attendance was the highest in history but she never participated. She also got the highest marks in the history of the school. It wasn't until one day in lab that she woke up.

They were doing an anatomy experiment and Jessie was a little on edge. She had received her first bouquet of birthday flowers and her clouded life was crumbling. And she was messing up. A warm hand stopped her from cutting into the wrong place. Her hand froze at the first touch in a year and she stared down at it. A shock ran through her as she realized where she was.

"Jessica," a thrill ran down Jessie's spine and she looked up at the speaker. His name was Richard Santio. He had curly black hair and hazel eyes. His GPA was not too far away from Jessie's. He transferred to Seattle only a few months ago. Jessie frowned, realizing that he transferred the beginning of the semester. And that was more than just a couple months ago. Jessie took her hand away and put the scalpel down. She looked around at the other students in her lab group. Elizabeth Bianta, worst student in the class and Michael Watkins, the oldest student in the class.

Jessie snapped back into place and finished the experiment. After class was done, she sat down at her seat and tried to search her memory for everything that had happened in the last couple months.

"Jessica?" another thrill as her thoughts were interrupted by that voice. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"No." Jessie said bluntly.

"Too bad," he said. Richard sat down next to her and smiled. "I guess then I'll have to fix you."

Jessie looked away and stood from her seat. "I don't need fixing." She said and stormed out.

That afternoon, Jessie walked up and down her hallway, as she re remembered her last few months. The last time she talked to her dad was by email and a short one at that. She stared at the flowers and decided to get rid of them. She grabbed her backpack and the flowers and headed out. She didn't know where she was going but she wanted to get away from the Reid memories. She walked through town and found herself in a cemetery. To her surprise they were doing some construction on the cemetery and Jessie ended up stumbling and falling into a grave. in an effort to get out, she ran so fast, she wasn't looking where she was going and fell down a hill.

And to her annoyance, she had to walk a few blocks to the ER.

She was used to the pain, but she hadn't been in the ER for several months on account that she was a walking zombie. She sat and waited and after a few minutes, someone helped her.

"What are you doing here?" Jessie asked Richard.

"I help out here sometimes. I'm an intern." He said with a warm smile as he attended to her broken arm.

"So, I guess, I do need fixing." Jessie whispered and his smile turned to a grin.

"No kidding, huh? What'd you do anyway?"

"I fell down a hill."

"No, no, you have to color the picture in a little bit. Say you were chasing a bad guy."

Jessie smiled. This was the beginning of a great friendship.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Hotch, Morgan and Reid got out of the car. They were outside Richard's mortuary that was in the middle of nowhere. Hotch had given Reid a speech about etiquette and Reid agreed to remain silent and just observe. There was a hurse in the driveway and two other cars. Inside, two lights were on. The three BAU members walked to the lobby and rang the bell. The door opened and they were greeted by a sixty something year old woman. The assistant.

"Here for the viewing?" she asked.

"No, ma'am, I'm SSA Hotchner, this is SSA Morgan and Dr. Reid. We're here to talk to Mr. Santio. Is he still here?"

"No, I'm afraid not. It's just me and Durga. We have a viewing. It's actually after hours but the family's plane just landed twenty minutes ago and they have to leave again soon. Mr. Santio has gone home for the night." The lady let them into the lobby and offered them some coffee. After they all declined, she sat down at her desk.

"Do you have a home address for Mr. Santio?" Morgan asked.

"I'm afraid Mr. Santio doesn't like me giving out personal information."

"This concerns one of our cases." Hotch said sternly.

"I'm sorry." She simply said.

"It concerns this girl!" Reid threw in as he showed the woman a picture off his phone. "She's missing and we think Mr. Santio might be able to help us.

"Oh dear. That's not good. Mr. Santio would be very upset." She grabbed a post it and started jotting down an address and a phone number.

"Why would he be upset, ma'am?" Morgan asked.

"That is Jessica. His wife."

The three men frowned in unison and exchanged glances. Morgan stared at Reid, wary of his reaction to this.

"I'll be right back." The lady said and disappeared into a back office.

Reid controlled his thoughts by counting the shadows that the horizontal blinds were making on the carpet. He stopped himself when he realized that counting things was a habit he had picked up from Jessie. The woman returned and held a picture out to them. It was Jessie at 21 years old. In the picture, Jessie was fighting the wind and she was laughing. Reid tilted his head, trying to figure out what was wrong with the picture but couldn't put his finger on it.

"It'll upset him because she died several years ago; they were only married for eighteen months. Poor thing, Mr. Santio. It changed him you know." The lady turned the picture around and stared at it too. "She was quite a pretty thing. But, that was probably more than four years ago."

"You've met her?" Morgan asked.

"No, never. He never had the chance to bring her home before she died. But I've known him all his life and that summer after she died, when he came back here, he cried more tears over her than when his own father died months later."

"What did she die of?" Reid was struggling to put together the two Jessica's they had. The Jessie that he knew and that was missing – and the one who died four years ago. They looked alike, the name was the same but it wasn't the same person. It couldn't be.

"Mr. Santio never said. He didn't like to talk too much about her. He hid the picture in his drawer, but I've seen him take it out several times. And he had sent us pictures and letters about her when she was alive."

"A wedding picture by any chance?" Reid asked.

"No, I'm afraid not. Please, detective, explain something to me. If she died four years ago, how can she be missing now?"

"We're not sure ma'am." Hotch answered. "You said Mr. Santio changed after she died, how so?"

"Well, he's always been like a ray of sunshine. So wonderful and sweet and kind. But after Jessica. He was just so glum. All the time. He got very depressed."

"Did you notice any erratic behavior from him then?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary, no." just then, the door bell rang again. "That must be the family for the viewing."

The lady walked around her desk and started motioning for the three men to walk out with her. She handed Hotch the address and bid them farewell. Hotch handed her his card before they walked out. Reid turned around and interrupted the woman as she was leading the family in.

"I'm sorry. What was Jessie… Jessica's maiden name?" Reid forced himself to say her full name but it was strangely difficult.

"Lynden." The woman answered and closed the door in Reid's face with an apologetic smile.

It took Reid forever to turn around and face both Hotch and Morgan. He was reciting the dictionary in order to control his mind.

"So are we talking about the same girl here?" Morgan asked.

"It's possible. Perhaps Santio only told his family that she died so that he didn't have to deal with her leaving him." Hotch said.

"But she was never married to him in the first place." Reid stated.

"Are you sure? Where was Jessie four years ago?" Hotch asked.

"Seattle." Reid thought for an extra long second. Jessie didn't much like to talk about those days after he had left. But she would have mentioned if she'd gotten married. Besides, Reid knew that Jessie didn't believe in divorce. She hated it because his parents were divorced and hers were separated by entire countries.

"Okay, so, we're talking about the same person here. Let's assume," Morgan started, then added for Reid's benefit, "just for a minute, that she was married to that guy. They were young and things didn't work out, so she ended it and moved on. He told his family a lie, who knows for what reason. And now we still got nothing."

"Lets assume she didn't marry him." Reid said firmly.

"We have something. Jessie knew this person, and it was her only clue. So she knows something that we don't." Hotch interfered.

"but we don't know what that is, so we're back to square one." Morgan said. Hotch pinched his nose and thought for a second.

"if Jessie was married to him, there would be record of that." Hotch said. "but Garcia didn't find anything."

"Yeah, because she wasn't looking for it." Morgan was feeling terrible for taking the bad guy role, but someone had to be.

"Jessie was twenty, and if they were married, it was just for eighteen months. Chances are, they didn't get around to making any shared accounts or take out any mortgages." Reid tried to be objective.

"Okay. I think it's safe to assume that Jessie knew Richard Santio." Hotch needed to move on. "Get Garcia to cross reverence Jessie and Santio. And to look for any kind of explanation for what this woman just told us."

Half an hour later, Hotch, Morgan and Reid were back in the office, waiting for news from Garcia before they head out to Santio's house.

"You're on speaker, Garcia." Hotch said when she finally called.

"Okay. So I looked for any connections between Jessie and this Richard guy. There's no wedding certificate or any divorce papers – not even an annulment form. The only connection I got was in a newspaper article from the University of Washington. Jessie was honored for receiving her third Doctorate and way at the bottom of the article, Santio's name spring up as one of the honor students. But he's just mentioned. So I hacked into the university's website and retrieved their log-in names and passwords, and I logged into both profiles and got their past schedules. They had anatomy Lab together."

"Good work Garcia…"

"I'm not done yet." Garcia interrupted. "I searched Jessie's computer for images or any mention of Santio, but found nothing. And I realized that the laptop that she uses now is FBI issued. So it's a business computer. And after a struggle, I managed to break her personal computer down to the basics of IT language and extracted anything that I could convert back into usable information and I got a couple of blocked emails."

"Impressive." Morgan stated. "What did the emails say?"

"They were from Richard to Jessie. The first couple ones ask her where she'd gone to. Then he asked why she left, and then he just says sorry."

"Sorry for what?" Morgan wondered.

"He doesn't say what. But he does say that it doesn't change anything."

"Okay. Whatever that means. Garcia send us the article please." Hotch said.

"it might already be printing." Garcia stated.

"Great. Thanks."

"Garcia out."

"Okay. So we got enough to go talk to this guy." Morgan said and Reid was all ready to go again.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Jessie and Richard sat at the table and talked all night long. They barely touched their food but talked about everything. They filled in the blanks from when they saw each other last until that very day. After they were done with all of that, they rekindled all their old memories.

Jessie was no longer tied by a chain but by a desperate need to stay. She was tied to Richard by an invisible strength that was formed a long time ago. John was hovering everywhere, obviously not happy that she was no longer tied. After several hours, Jessie started to yawn and Richard helped her to the room in the basement. The basement was made up of four rooms. An entrance/storage space which had been the room that John hovered in before Richard got there, the bedroom and a bathroom and then another large storage area. The bedroom had had no door because in fact, the wall closed in on itself, hiding the room from view.

"Your phone is ringing" John said as he raced down the stairs behind them. Richard nodded but ignored the comment as he walked into the bedroom behind Jessie. "It looked important." John insisted. Richard said good night to Jessie and ran up. Jessie was left staring at John accusingly.

"For both our sakes, let's keep our little accident from earlier, to ourselves." John whispered to Jessie.

"Why?" Jessie asked. Something about John just ticked her off.

"Trust me, I know the new Richard, we don't want him knowing. Okay?" John said with a smile as Richard entered the room again.

"Was it important?" Jessie asked Richard, deciding to ignore John's presence.

"Yeah, it was Mrs. Gaskell. From the office. Someone was there tonight after closing time..." Jessie noted his tone. He was hiding something. But she swallowed it down and continued listening "…but they'll probably be back. We do offer the best rates."

Jessie faked a yawn this time. And also faked hiding it from him. Richard smiled and bid her good night. He hugged her and told her how much he'd missed her and then went up stairs. John offered to show here where to find her new clothes and Richard left them there together. John dosed Jessie with morphine for the pain that was resurfacing and she passed out faster than she wanted to.

In the early hours of the morning, Jessie woke up with a start but bit her lip before she could scream. She wasn't tied to the chain but the wall had been closed and Jessie was trapped. She needed Richard to comfort her but he was two stories up, and fast asleep. She started pacing around the room as all her thoughts flooded back. Her first thought was of Richard's most recent lie.

Someone had been at the office and his tone implied that he wasn't too happy about it. Chances were that it was the FBI, more likely was the BAU. Jessie had left them without a clue but John had dropped them one without knowing. She knew it wouldn't take them long to find Richard. Jessie knew that Garcia would find this address and they would go in there and not find her.

Jessie decided to take another bath while her captors were sleeping and she started wondering whether she even wanted to be found. At some point, she heard the bedroom door/wall open and Richard greeted her with a smile and a wild flower. She went upstairs with him and they made breakfast together. Like old times, Jessie just forgot about everything that was outside their world and lived just in the moment. John was out for breakfast and Jessie could just imagine him walking down a street and mumbling to himself.

"Do you remember that day in lab when Professor Hawk talked about the five important safety measures…" Richard started with a giggle.

"And he had his hand up as he numbered them on his fingers and when Kyle walked in late, he high fived Professor Hawk as he passed him…" Jessie finished with a giggle. But it was cut short when John walked in.

"We have to hide." John said quickly. "We have unwanted guests."

John raced down to the basement. Richard looked through the window and saw a car pull up the driveway. Jessie stood, not knowing what to do but her heart started racing out of control. She know who their guests where. John came back up reached for Jessie. She dodged his reach and walked to Richard's side.

"you have to go with him" Richard assured her. She couldn't help but pout. "it's just for a little while until we can leave."

Jessie sighed and ran her fingers through her hair with frustration. She nodded and walked back around the table, tapping it as she passed and reached John. He grabbed her arm and pulled her up the stairs. Jessie was instantly confused. Upstairs made no sense but she glanced back at Richard just before he was out of view.

Jessie counted nineteen steps to the top and then twelve steps to a bedroom when John pulled down the stairs to the attic. He motioned for her to go up and she sighed before doing so. She heard the knock on the door before she was inside the attic. Her heart ran away from her when she heard Rossie's voice just before John pulled the stairs back up. It was dark and suddenly very quiet. But all that Jessie could hear was her heart hammering in her chest. She felt something cold on her collarbone and suddenly John held her from behind.

Jessie didn't care that he was holding her so tightly that she could barely breathe, she was trying to hear the voiced from down stairs.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Hotch had sent everyone home after they talked to Garcia and early the next morning, both Reid and Morgan was ready early to go to Santio's house. Reid looked like he had not slept during the night but he hyped himself up on sugar with a hint of coffee and was ready to go. So ready, he even offered to drive. But in fact, Morgan drove them to the address and as they got in the street, they saw a car pull up in their destination. As Morgan pulled the car up to the house, Garcia called on Reid's phone.

"Hey Garcia!" Reid answered it on speaker phone. "You're up early."

"And so are you, my precious one."

"We're driving over to Santio's house to question him. Did you get anything for us?"

"I'm on my way to the Rosaryville police station right now but last night I set my computer on a search and I found something."

"What did you find?"

"I don't know, I can't check it out until I get there, I'm driving as we speak. But I'll get back to you when I do."

"Thanks Garcia."

Morgan parked the car in the driveway and the three men headed up to the front door. The windows all had curtains covering them and the door was a rich wood door, carved into a Celtic tree design. There was no bell or knocker so Morgan extended his arm and knocked on the thick wood. Mere seconds later the door opened. Something tugged at Reid as he laid eyes on the guy. Richard Santio was tall and skinny, he had his dark hair gelled firmly backwards and he was wearing a regular casual shirt and jeans. He looked relatively or generally considered handsome and well built, strong enough to take and carry any girl Jessie's size.

"Mr. Santio?" Rossi introduced everyone. "Can we please come in?"

"Of course." Richard stepped out of the way and led them in. "What can I help you with?"

Richard had already talked with his assistant from the office and he knew they were looking for Jessie and they were under the impression that she was his deceased wife. And he knew exactly what he would say to them.

"Mr. Santio, I know we've talked to you before but things have changed and we need some more information from you." Hotch said. Reid was scanning the place subtly and also trying to take in all of Richard's expressions. After a quick scan of the front room, Reid zeroed in on Richard.

"What can I help you with?"

"Do you recognize this woman?" Morgan held up a picture of Jessie. A hint of recognition flashed through Richard's face before he covered it with confusion.

"That's Jess-Lynn." He said, reaching for the picture. "Jessica Lynden. We were in med school together. I haven't seen her in years." He finished off with pretending to think deeply.

Rossi, Morgan and Reid exchanged glances.

"When's the last time you saw her?" Rossi asked and grabbed the picture back.

"Two, maybe three years ago. What is this about?"

"She's missing. We have video footage of her being kidnapped. We found information that links you together with her."

"Really?" Richard frowned, obviously hiding something.

"And you haven't seen her lately?"

"No. I'm sorry. We had a falling out before she left so we didn't even separate on good terms."

"Mr. Santio," Reid interrupted. "Your assistant seems to think that you were married to Jessie…ca. To Jessica. And that she died three years ago." That did not take Richard off guard is it naturally should have. And Rossi noticed.

"I was married to another Jessica. And she died. Mrs. Gaskell must have gotten confused."

"Then why do you have a picture of Jessie?" Reid couldn't contain himself anymore. He knew Richard was hiding something. But Rossi put a hand on Reid to stop him from moving and interrupted.

"Mr. Santio. Miss Lynden currently works for the FBI. It is very important that we find her. If you have any information that could help us, please don't hesitate to call me." Rossi handed him a card and then turned Reid around to the door.

Reid was angry and so he held his tongue until they got back at the office. But before he could say anything, Morgan beat him to the punch.

"This guy is hiding something. Something big"

"I know." Rossi agreed.

"How do we prove it?" Rossi asked.

"Garcia said she got something." Morgan answered. The three men headed to where the officer had said Garcia had set up. She was in the middle of the office space and it looked almost like she was the heart of the operation.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

"Garcia baby, what do you have?" Morgan asked.

"So, a while back, Jessie mentioned a program that the designed and used when she worked for that private investigator. I struggled all day yesterday to hack into her system and I got it! And it's truly amazing. I didn't know you could do such a thing. So! What this program does is it links all computers with this program. It's not exactly hacking but…"

"What did it get you?" Hotch cut her off.

"Sorry. Jessie's just a mastermind. Okay. This program got me a marriage license and a death certificate for a Jessica Santio. And an article after both the events. Jessica Santio used to be Jessica Watler from Vancouver, Canada. The quiet and pretty daughter of Pasquale Watler, former City Mayor. She married, Richard Santio eight years ago, they moved to Seattle where her trail goes missing for several months until she is found dead in her father's house, in Canada. It was a suicide." Garcia pulled up a picture. "if I'm not mistaking, that's not Jessie, but she darn-well kinda looks like her."

"Good work, Garcia." Hotch said.

"Hold on!" Garcia smiled. "I'm not done yet. When we started on this case, you asked me to find older cases of brunet's going missing or turning up dead. Well, I didn't find anything but because we suspect this Richard guy, I traced his life back to his birth date. And that was an interesting story. Born in Canada, Birth mother died after he was born, and he was put up for adoption, and taken in by the Santio family in Rosaryville who owns the Creepitorium, sorry, crematorium. He grew up in Rosaryville and moved to Seattle for college where he met Watler, I'm guessing, and married her, then after her death, he stayed in Seattle until he met our Jessie, and four years ago, he moved back to Rosaryville after his adoptive father died, leaving Richard with the Crematorium. I'm also guessing that that is when Jessie and Santio's paths separated. Knowing where he was and when, helped me look for female victims with brown hair and the same MO."

"It might just be circumstantial" Hotch stated.

"I know, but I found three brunet women, left on benches in public parks. Same MO. But they were natural brunettes. And this was in Seattle just a few months after Jessica Santio committed Suicide. Then, the murders stopped around the time that Jessie and Richard met. What was interesting about those three murders was that the Seattle police called it the "Mercy Killer" because all the women suffered from severe depression. It turned into a cold case because the murders stopped… well, cold."

"Is there anything else?" Hotch asked.

"Well, the Seattle murders don't match up entirely with the new ones here in Rosaryville… but…" Garcia stopped talking when music abruptly started from somewhere in the room. The annoying vibration sound underlining it, made it apparent that it was a phone ringing. No one indicated that it was their phone so everyone just stared at each other in confusion. Reid jumped to it when he realized it must be Jessie's phone. He picked up a few files and found the phone still in the evidence bag. The light was flashing as the caller persisted. Reid took it out of the bag and stared at it.

"It's her dad." He simply said.

"You should answer it." Rossi encouraged.

"But it would be best if you don't tell him she's missing." Hotch added. Reid nodded and took a deep breath before he pushed the "answer" button.

"Mr. Lynden." Reid was out of breath. He didn't want to lie to Jessie's dad.


	17. Chapter 17

A/N: seriously, would someone please Review, ask questions or just comment shortly? I'm busy writing the ending and I need to know what things I need to tie up. And things that you would want explained.

Chapter 17

After a while of nearly crushing Jessie into silence, he finally thought she'd settled down enough, not to make a sound and he let go of his tight grip. Jessie instantly relaxed and fell to the floor. She sat hunched over and wiped her tears away. In her head, she was struggling to keep a hold on Reid. Her memory was crystal clear but her logic wasn't strong enough to remind her that escaping was better than staying. She looked up at John and noticed the roof tiles above his head. She noticed him staring down at her and a plan formed in her head. Even without Reid in her life, she could settle for Richard – as long as John was out of the picture. And at the back of her mind, she wondered how she had never known about him.

In the darkness, she evaluated the differences between John and Richard as her eyes adjusted to the darkness. Richard was polished and presentable, while John was ruff and dirty-looking with a bit of stubble and messy hair. He looked weathered, too. In a way, she would describe him as a rogue street dog. But not dirty in the way that you wouldn't touch him. But more in the sense of bad boy. He certainly smelled clean. And if she was ever into the whole bad-boy thing, she'd have gone for him instead of Richard.

And her plan evolved.

Jessie shut down everything that was nice and sweet about her mind and felt Goosebumps as she filled her head with anger and stood up. She wiped the anger away from her face and put on the scared look. She moved closer to John and reached out to him.

"John?" she whispered. She faked tripping and fell into him. He held her up and stared at her, suddenly confused. Jessie's hands reached up to find his face and pulled his brow to hers. She tangled her fingers in his hair and started kissing him. John hesitated for a minute and pulled back.

"What…?" John wiped tears off of Jessie's cheeks that she didn't even know was there. And before she could lose herself, she kissed him again. And this time he kissed back. The kiss was strong, rough and over quickly when John pushed Jessie several feet away from him.

"Richard's not to hear about this!" John said loudly and headed to the attic stairs. He lowered the stairs and stepped down. Jessie followed behind and doubled back when she saw the intense anger on Richard's face. She suddenly remembered that she had never seen Richard angry because she had always thought him genuinely incapable of it. But she calmed herself in the thought that Richard was staring straight at John.

John stepped off the last step and faced Richard with a blank expression. Richard instantly grabbed John and threw him against the wall.

"You imbecile!" Richard yelled but kept his distance. Jessie stayed on the stairs – a safe distance from the evidently mad Richard. "You kidnapped her!" Richard continued yelling.

"You know that." Jessie stated quickly and regretted turning Richard's attention to her. The anger in his eyes killed a part of her soul and left her breathless.

"Shut up!" He said to her quickly and turned back to John. "From a police parking lot! You left evidence! You know better than that!"

John stayed against the wall and let Richard yell.

"Luckily for us, there are so many holes in my past and lies in between that they'll never find out the truth!"

"I'm sorry brother." John whispered. Richard's anger disappeared. "I'll do better next time."

Jessie's breath caught at that. Next time?

"There won't be a next time." Richard motioned for Jessie to come down the stairs. After carefully evaluating his mood, she stepped down into his outreached arms. "I have what I wanted." Richard hugged Jessie lovingly. She hugged him back but kept her mind on guard. She had so much to process and no time to do so. Time! Something triggered Jessie's memory.

"What time is it?" she asked. Richard looked at his watch.

"It's ten thirty." He informed her. Jessie quickly converted the time and changed her plans.

"I was supposed to call my dad last night." She said. She found it really easy to ignore John, especially when he was sitting out like a bad dog. "He'll panic and call me. And my phone is with the FBI most likely. If he finds out that I'm missing, there will be hell to pay."

"How so?" Richard asked.

"Believe me; you don't want my dad's money looking for me." She said with a clear warning on her face. Richard nodded. He took his phone out of his pocket and held it out to her.

"Then, call him. So that he won't think you're missing."


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Reid stepped away from the team and walked into Jessie's make-shift office with the phone at his ear.

"Spencer is that you?" Jessie's dad asked.

"Yes, Mr. Lynden. It's me." Reid was calm and calculating.

"How many times do I have to ask you to call me Tuan?" the man asked kindly.

"Always." Reid sat down and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Of course, my boy. I appreciate the respect, but you do know that my name is also regarded as a respectful title. You were the one who told me that."

"Yes. But you're not Malayan. And the name Tuan is actually Vietnamese, meaning…"

"Bright and intelligent. You told me that too." Mr. Lynden said with a laugh. "Did I tell you how I got that name?"

"I believe you did. You were born when your father was in the war. He brought the name back with him."

"Ah. Good memory, son. Say, where's that daughter of mine?"

Reid got back to script and thought of a correct way of answering without lying.

"She's not here right now. I was actually hoping I could talk to you in private."

"Of course." Mr. Lynden knew what was coming and completely forgot about the fact that Jessie hadn't called him.

"You know I love Jessie." Reid started. "And I'd never let anything bad happen to her. I should never have left her all those years ago. And I've never apologized to you for that. I know that what I left behind must have been hard to deal with and I will never forgive myself for that. And it will never ever happen again. Since Jessie's been back in my life, I've been happier and better at everything and I want to keep her … in my life." Reid paused for a minute. "I know she's your only little girl and I know you want what's best for her. I wanted to ask you face to face, but with the schedule and timing, I just can't right now. But I'm sure you understand and will excuse this one thing... Mr. Lynden, May I please have Jessie's hand in marriage?" Reid held his breath. Hoping and praying that he could get Jessie back.

"You may." Mr. Lynden answered and added with a hint of humor, "good sir." Reid smiled and breathed in relief. "I've always admired you Spencer. Never doubted you. I do believe that you are what's best for her."

"Thank you." Reid looked up to find both Garcia and Prentiss looking at him – all teary eyed. They had heard the whole speech.

"I'm sorry Spencer, I have to go now. Give Jessie my love and I'll be expecting to see the both of you here soon, okay?"

"Okay. Sure thing." Reid hung up.

"We'll find her, Reid." Garcia said. "If it's the last thing we do."


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Jessie cautiously took the phone out of Richard's hand and wondered for a minute whether he would expect her to call on speaker. She made sure her expression looked innocent and thankful before she dialed the number. She glanced at John to make sure he doesn't do anything. She pushed the green call button.

In the office, Garcia hugged Reid in the attempt to comfort him - and herself. They both jumped when Jessie's phone rang again. Reid looked at the screen and it was a private number. He thought for a minute before he pushed the answer button and put the phone to his ear.

"Hello?"

Silence…

Jessie grunted. "It's call recording." She said half into the phone and half to Richard.

On the other side of the line, Reid frowned.

"Hey, dad. It's me." Jessie said. Reid lit up when he realized that she was on the line.

"Jessie?" He asked, and turned to Garcia. "It's Jessie!"

"I'll locate the phone!" Garcia raced out.

"You can't do that with a private number." Prentiss said.

"Oh, I can!" Garcia went to frantic work.

"Listen, sorry I didn't call. I'm a cat on a goal post…" she said with a laugh. Reid frowned.

"Jessie, where are you?" he asked.

"I'm with two friends. We're at that place you and the guys were last. You won't be able to see some of us when you come over. I'll try to call you, okay? I love you." Then she hung up. Reid stared at the phone and the call duration.

"Garcia?" Reid called.

"I'm sorry. I couldn't trace it. The call was too short." Garcia cried.

"What's happening?" Hotch walked in.

"Jessie called." Reid answered. He grabbed a piece of paper and tried to jot down the conversation. "She was speaking so fast, I can't remember everything she said."Reid said panicked. "She said…. Something about call recording, then cats and football. It doesn't make sense."

"What's call recording?" Morgan asked.

"It's like voice mail?" Prentiss wondered. Reid thought for a minute and started searching on Jessie's phone.

"No. Not voice mail. But you'd think that won't you? I think Jessie just gave us a clue."

"What is it?" Hotch asked. Reid held up the phone so that everyone could see the screen.

"Jessie records all her phone calls." Reid stated. He searched for her most recent call and played it on speaker phone. Reid put the phone down and wrote out the whole conversation. He stared at the short exchange and tried to figure around it.

"Could she possibly have called the wrong number?" Hotch asked, knowing the answer was no.

"Okay, wait."Morgan grabbed the phone and played it again. "She thinks she called her dad? Or did she do that on purpose?" then Morgan understood. "Someone was listening to her. Someone needed to think that she called her dad."

"Okay, so what's she saying?" Hotch took the written transcript of the call. "She's notifying you that she records her messages so that you can listen to it again, she's letting us know that someone is listening. What's this about the cat?" everyone looked at it confused.

"I don't know."

"Figure it out." Hotch continued. "She clearly says she's with two people." He looks up at Reid. "There's that 'two' again. She says she's at that place where you and the guys were. She's talking to you and not her dad, so where were you?"

A noise came from Garcia's computer and she sat down and started typing.

"Is she talking about us?" Morgan asked Reid before he answered Hotch. "We just came from Santio's house."

"She was there?" Reid fought against the dizziness that was pushing down on him.

"And by what she's saying, she was hidden by one of them." Morgan continued.

"There were two plates." Reid remembered. "On the dining room table... Two plates, just used. But when we got there, Santio just arrived too. He pulled up just before we did."

"Guys?" Garcia said softly.

"Someone else was in the house, two others." The team started getting excited because they were getting somewhere.

"Hey guys?" Reid looked down at the transcript.

"What do we do about this now?"Prentiss asked. "We don't have a cause to go back, or to take a swat team in."

"Guys?" Garcia called louder from her computer. "I found something!" Garcia said when the team was finally looking at her.

"Me too." Reid said as he wrote something on the transcript. "Jessie has this thing with numbers. She once told me the significance each number has up to twenty. Like, one is tree, two is light switch etc. that thing about the cat, is not an expression and she wasn't mumbling. Cat is nine and goalpost is eleven."

"Nine eleven? What does that have to do with anything?" Prentiss asked. Reid flipped over the transcript so that they could see. On the top of the paper, in bold marker, were the numbers '9', '1', '1'.

"911? It's an emergency!" Hotch noted.

"Okay, guys!" Garcia hollered. "My turn! Jessie's program is so amazingly cool. It made recommendations of what else to search. It gave me a link to Richard Santio's birth mother, and normally that would be unnecessary since she died after giving birth but! There's another birth certificate with her listed as mother. Same date. She had twins! So I search for his adoption papers and found the other twin…" Garcia pulled up the mug shot.

"Two!" Hotch commented.

"And he has priors." Garcia continued. "He was adopted and his name became John Moser. He was a troubled teen and was convicted for homicide but released when he turned eighteen and after that his trail goes cold but I'm sure if we knew where he was all that time, we'd find some unsolved murders wherever he was. But it was all in Canada."

"How'd he get here?" Hotch asked. "With priors, they wouldn't have let him into the country."

"Their mom was an American citizen. Maybe he was deported out of Canada after he served his time in Juvi." Garcia started searching again.

"That's good Garcia." Hotch stated. "But we still don't have any reason to go into Santio's house and search for Jessie."

"What are they going to do to her?" Morgan asked.

"They won't hurt her. She's who they wanted from the start." Hotch reassured them. "Alive!"


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20.

Jessie hung up the phone and handed it back to Richard.

"Thanks." She said.

"Who'd you call?" John asked. Anger flared up in Jessie's mind and she stared at him.

"The FBI." She answered sternly - making it sound like sarcasm - then rolled her eyes. "Did you not hear what I said? I called my dad! We're safe now."

Richard put his phone back in his pocket and escorted Jessie to the living room where he picked up a book to read to her.

In the office, Hotch went to work to find a judge that will give them a warrant with their information. Garcia searched for John Moser's life after he got out of juvenile detention and found a wide net of unsolved murders that matched their victimology. Reid worked to find more hidden meaning in Jessie's short message while Morgan, Prentiss and Rossi worked on a new profile.

At about lunch time, they delivered the profiles for both Santio and John.

"We believe both men are serial killers. And that makes them two different unsubs." Rossi started.

"Santio killed women who would eventually have committed suicide and when he came upon Jessica Lynden, he stopped because she didn't want to die, she was what he considered; "Savable". When she left, he started working at a funeral home where he most likely got his fair share of the dead but there might be a pool of missing women that mourned the death of a loved one, and then went missing. With the equipment at Santio's disposal, he probably buried them, or cremated his victims. That's why no bodies were ever found again." Morgan informed them.

"Moser had been a killer since he was a teenager. He was sloppy and got caught. We believe he was deported out of Canada after he was released and we're still trying to find a trail of where he went. There are several unsolved murders and non that could be linked to him because he leaves no evidence." Prentiss said.

"Which is good for him, and bad for us. It makes him hard to find." Rossi added. "We believe that the two crossed paths several months ago and traced back their histories to discover what we know now, they're twins."

"Which was kind of obvious. They're identical." An officer pointed out.

"When the two met, they wouldn't have shared the fact that they kill women but it must have slipped out or one of them must have discovered the other's secret." Morgan continued. "Your first victim was a pretty blond whose hair was dyed brown to fit the appearance of Jessica Watler or Jessica Lynden. But she was displayed in a cemetery leading us to think that perhaps Moser did that as a sign to his brother."

"A sign?" a police officer asked. "What kind of sign?"

"Look at me." Rossi answered. "At that point they must have known about each other or the one, Moser, was trying to tell Santio that he knew about his secret."

"What secret?" another officer asked. "That they're killers? How would they know that?"

"That they're psychopaths." Reid added thoughtful. "Psychopaths generally don't feel remorse or mostly any emotion. It takes one to know one."

"We're still in need of a warrant to go arrest these guys but until then, you need to know some things about these men." Morgan started informing the officers.

After everyone was informed, Hotch went to make a public statement that didn't give much away and sent out for lunch.

"Hey, Pretty boy," Morgan walked over to where Reid was still busy with Jessie's note. "Let's get out of here for a bit. You've been cooped up in here too long."

"What are you talking about? I slept at the hotel last night." Reid quickly defended.

"No you didn't. The bell boy said he hadn't seen you last night."

"That's because I went after his bedtime." Reid said almost childishly.

"Reid, man. It's me you're talking to. You can't lie to me, you know that." Morgan forcefully picked Reid up from his chair. "We're going outside for a little bit."

Morgan took Reid for a drive. A little bit out of the immediate area and ended up at a park where they got hot dogs for lunch.

"I can't eat man," Reid pulled his nose up at the food. "Not with Jessie still with them. We don't even know what they're doing to her. They're psychopaths. They won't feel sorry for anything that they do to her."

"Reid, this guy kept Jessie alive for three years." Morgan ordered another hot dog and pushed it into Reid's hands. "He won't start hurting her now."

"Yeah, But Moser wasn't there last time. And from the victim's that Garcia lined up as his, he's not a very easy guy to live with."

"Reid. We'll get her out safely."

"Yeah." Reid wasn't too confident about that part.

"Did you get her a ring yet?" Morgan asked, trying to calm Reid down. Reid pressed his lips together and fished the little box out of his pocket. Morgan opened the box and saw the beautiful ring.

"Wow, Reid." Morgan tried to shut it again and ended up spilling onions and ketchup all over himself. Morgan handed the box back to Reid and the entire contents of his left hand freeing it to clean up his mess. He grabbed extra napkins from the food stand and wiped away the gooey condiments.

"I think I'll need a new shirt." Morgan said with a laugh, but when he looked up, Reid was gone.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Jessie and Richard read all morning and talked about other books that they've read in the last few years. Jessie felt herself slip slowly back into her comfort zone with Richard, but she desperately held onto her need to escape. She felt conflicted and got a headache from over thinking everything.

"You remember Sallah's?" Richard asked at some point in the day.

"The Chinese food place?" Jessie remembered. Along with the memory of Sallah's Chinese food, came memories of late night studies, and declarations of love. Mostly on Richard's side and then Jessie remembered how wrong things had turned out last time. When she told him she could not love him back. And she wondered what would happen if that conversation sprang up again.

"Yeah. I found a place nearby that has the same kind of menu. The food is even better than Sallah's." Richard missed Jessie's internal thought process.

"Better?" she asked.

"Yeah. Let's get some for lunch. I'm starving." Richard stood without waiting for an answer and dialed a number that had clearly been on his speed dial.

Richard hung up after placing the order and stared at his phone.

"I got a call waiting." He told Jessie and added before he walked out, "its business, I'll take it in the office and be right back."

Jessie nodded and returned to her book. In truth she was just pretending to read while she rethought her plans. She heard footsteps and decided to ignore them, knowing that they were John's. She turned the page and suddenly dropped the book when something burned in her arm. She looked up to see John holding a syringe in his hand. She stood and was glad to see the couch was a barrier between them.

"What the hell, John!" she uttered and put her hand over where it burned. There was no mark or even a drop of blood but her arm started pins and needles.

"You'll feel pain soon." John said bluntly. The look on his face showed more than his words ever could.

"What?" she asked anyway.

John tilted his head to the side and stared at her. His sneaky smile sent chills down her spine and suddenly all Jessie wanted was to be near Richard again. When John looked like this he showed no resemblance to Richard. He looked empty inside.

"You're wound on your hip." John answered her considerably stupid question. "You've been sitting all day. Cutting off blood flow. It'll start hurting soon. Well. Would have."

"Thanks." Jessie mumbled and eyed the stairs.

"You know he won't let you live without him." John said.

"What?" this took Jessie by surprise.

"If you know him as well as I do, he won't be able to live without you. Well, if he knew you were alive and with someone else. He'd go on a killing spree. You know what he is, right? What we both are! He won't survive if you leave him again. Last time was bad enough. And if I have to deal with him again, I'll get you, and your boyfriend. I bet Richard would love to have that skinny boy-toy of yours on a gurney."

"You wouldn't." Jessie whispered. John smiled sweetly and the sight of it made Jessie panic.

"Yes I would." He said, and Jessie could tell how much that would please him. Jessie took a deep breath and rearranged her plans and thoughts.

"Why would I want to leave him?" she asked sweetly.

"You don't fool me, Jessie!" John said sternly, mocking her name. He noticed Jessie heading to the stairs and followed her movements.

"I wasn't trying to." She said coldly and sprinted for the stairs. John grabbed her and pulled her down. He pushed her against the wall and pressed against the injury. She held her breath to prevent from screaming. But instead dug her nails into his arm.

Outside the house, Reid parked Morgan's car just down the road and got out. He didn't know what he was going to do but he wanted to see if he could get a glimpse of Jessie. He knew she had said that they won't be able to see her, but there were two plates. And on one of the plates, the knife and fork was crossed over each other, the way Jessie did it.

Reid snuck up to the house and went to the back. He couldn't see anything. All the windows were covered with curtains but he kept looking. He found a small window that seemed to overlook the stairs to the basement. But he saw nothing there.

Then just as he was about to move on, he saw Jessie jump up the stairs and suddenly Moser was there too. Reid started to vibrate when he saw Moser push Jessie against the wall and started seeing red, when he saw the look of absolute pain on Jessie's face. He stood and ran to the front door.

Back inside the house, Jessie couldn't help but utter a grunt from the pain. She felt desperate when she saw the pure joy in John's face when she finally screamed.

"Enough!" Richard said from the top of the stairs. John let go of Jessie and she started breathing again. She doubled over in pain, only to be caught by Richard before she hit the floor.

"Are you okay?" Richard asked. He eyed John with complete anger and helped Jessie to the couch. She leaned back against the cushions and tried to normalize her breathing. The bell rang and John turned to open the door. "I'll deal with you later!" Richard pointed at John and then attended to Jessie, "don't make a sound. That'll be our food."

John walked over to the door and opened it. Instead of the Chinese delivery guy, he saw Reid, with a gun in his pointed straight at John's head. John rolled his eyes and opened the door wider.

"Oh look. The FBI sent the emaciated one to take us down." John said and ignored the gun and looked towards the couch. Jessie and Richard looked up in surprise. "We must surrender." He added sarcastically. When Reid saw Jessie on the couch, he turned his gun on Richard, who was Jessie's closest threat.

"Get away from her" Reid threatened. He didn't hear when the door shut behind him. Richard stood and held his hands out in surrender. Jessie looked around Reid to find John and he was lurking behind Reid like a shadow. A threat.

"Spencer!" she said and stood awkwardly. She put herself in front of Richard and shielded him. Reid didn't understand, and John watched suspiciously and mildly interested.

"You shouldn't be here." She said.

"I came to rescue you." Reid replied.

"Rescue me? From what? These are my friends!"

Reid frowned.

"You have to go. Tell everyone to stop looking for me because I'm not missing!" Jessie knew what she had to do to save Reid. And she got angry and took it out on him. "It got too much and I couldn't deal with it all, so I decided to leave. Everything's just circumstantial."

"You were kidnapped." Reid uttered.

"It was a stupid college prank. I didn't call you because I needed a clean break."

"Clean break?" Reid's muscles got really heavy. The gun lowered slowly.

"Don't you get it?" Jessie yelled. "I don't want you. You put too much pressure on me and so did Hotch. I don't want that job anymore than I want you. We fight too much and you're not good enough for me. You hardly understand me. Go! And leave us alone! I never want to see you again! I hate you!" Jessie didn't know what to do or say to emphasize her point. Just then, Richard took her hand and kissed it. He stared at her lovingly and pulled her into an embrace. Jessie took her eyes off Reid and turned into Richard's embrace. She heard the door open and close and when she looked up, Reid was gone. And John was staring at her lividly. She buried her face in Richard's chest, and buried Reid in her mind.

Reid stumbled to Morgan's car and got in the driver's seat. His main thought was to get it back to Morgan before he could get to Santio's house. He started the car and ineptly drove back to the park. As he drove into the parking lot, he saw Morgan talking on some random citizen's phone. Morgan saw Reid pull into the previous parking lot, and got alarmed when Reid's head flopped onto the steering wheel. Morgan ran to the driver's side and opened the door. Reid was limply leaning over the wheel and his hair covered his face. Morgan lifted him up and helped him out of the car.

"Reid ,man! What the hell happened?" Morgan asked, and when Reid didn't answer, Morgan suspected the worst. "Reid! Are you hurt?" he tried to see for any blood, but found none.

"It's over." Reid mumbled and gave in to the darkness that was towering over him.

"Reid! What happened? Where were you?" Morgan tried to hold Reid up and was surprised when Reid managed enough energy to push him away forcefully.

"Reid!" Prentiss parked her car and ran over. She threw her arms around Reid, just as he was about to collapse. She hugged him quickly and then helped him over to a bench where she sat him down.

"Reid, you need to focus for a second for me, okay?" Prentiss held his face to make him focus. "did you see Jessie?"

Reid tried to nod but couldn't make his muscles move. "yes." He finally whispered.

"is she alive?" Prentiss had to ask.

"Yes."

"Is she injured?"

"No."

"Reid. You have to tell me what happened."

"She hates me. She chose him. Everything's just circumstantial."

"What?" Prentiss was baffled. She didn't know what to say.

After that, Morgan and Prentiss managed to get Reid in a passenger seat of a car and back to the station. Prentiss told the others what Reid had told her. And everyone was flabbergasted. The BAU sat in a depressed state as they watched Reid emptying out. Garcia even cried. After a few tries, they got the whole story out of Reid and no one knew how to comfort him, or where they should go from there.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Jessie buried her face in Richard's chest. She had chosen her fate. She would stay with Richard and Reid would stay alive. She knew he'd hate her, but at least he would be alive. She compartmentalized every bit of Reid in her brain, and as those places emptied out she felt her old attachment to Richard, strengthen again. And when she looked up at his face, she loved Richard with all that was left in her. She knew it would never be enough but she would settle. She'd be happy with him. He kissed her, and it felt familiar and good enough. And she found herself kissing him back.

Lunch came eventually and Jessie and Richard ate blissfully out of the paper packaging. After lunch, Jessie wandered the house and picked out a new room. They took all of her clothes up from the basement and she moved into the room next to Richard's.

"I'll make you a lovely dinner." Richard promised and left her to take a shower and change her clothes. It was still light out when she walked down the stairs in a dark Gucci jeans, a white Chanel blouse under a black leather jacket and Guess boots. She threw the jacket over the back of her chair, and looked everything but intimidating. They had an early dinner. And Jessie was completely devoted to Richard.

"She's going to leave you!" John stood from where he'd been brooding silently in the shadows. "Just like she did last time!"

Jessie was just as confused as Richard looked. They rose from the table and this time Richard shielded Jessie from John.

"She doesn't love you!" John continued. "Why does it even matter? You don't really love her."

"Of course I love her. I always have."

"You're incapable of love, just like me, brother."

"You don't understand, John. This is special"

"No! You don't understand! She picked that guy over you, did you know that?" John was over boiling with anger.

"She's with me, John. Maybe you should go for a drive. Calm yourself down."

"If I go for a drive now, I'll go find that skinny kid and kill him!"

Jessie couldn't help her reaction. She stood forward and uttered 'no!'

"See." John motioned to Jessie, Richard looked at her for a minute and turned back to John.

"You wouldn't be killing anyone anymore John."

"How can you stand it? Not killing? Are you kidding me? It's what we were born to do!"

"No it's not."

"You'll stop killing for a little while. She'll keep you happy enough and then one day, you'll just crack and kill someone. And she won't stand by you if you do."

"I won't crack!'" Richard was getting angry too.

"If she leaves you, you'll be back where you started. So why don't you just give in to yourself? You know you'll be happier." John was hoping this would work; he didn't really want to go to this last resort.

"She won't leave me." Richard said and John blew up.

"Then I'll have to get rid of the main problem. I'll take care of it myself." John lifted his hand and pointed a gun straight at Jessie.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Reid sat in silence in a corner in the office. There was a bussing going on with the officers but he couldn't wrap his head around the excitement or the reason for it. He was tired and felt himself slip in and out of sleep.

The smell of strong espresso straight into his nose woke him up long enough to see the cup that Garcia was holding out to him. He took the cup, but didn't take a sip. He barely noticed when she put her arm around him and squeezed.

"I want to go home." Reid said.

"I know my Precious, but right now, you have to stay here. Just for a little bit. There's some miracle happening and once that's done I'll take you home, Okay?"

"Hotch is scared that I'll kill myself?" Reid woke up a little bit as the coffee slowly warmed his hands.

"We're all scared of that"

"I won't." Reid mumbled.

"Yeah. Not your most convincing argument, Reid." She urged him to drink the coffee.

"I want to go to sleep." Reid fought against the coffee.

"Just stay awake for a little bit longer please." She lifted his limp hand and made him smell it again. He took a sip and then a few more. And the strength of the coffee ripped right though him, putting him on caffeine buzz.

"What's going on?" he asked when the sound of the busy workers flooded his hearing.

"Hotch got an arrest warrant."

"What for?"

"John Moser is an internationally wanted man." She said happily. "And we also found a link between the most recent victims and Richard Santio, so we're waiting on that Warrant. But we'll get them. And we'll get her back."

"She doesn't love me." Reid felt the ache as he said that.

"And here I thought you were the genius!" Garcia sighed theatrically. Reid wasn't amused.

"Garcia, you weren't there. You didn't see…" Reid folded over forward as the memory hit him in the gut.

"Look!" Garcia lifted Reid back into his sitting position and held him up. "I didn't think that I'd have to convince you of this but…" she lifted up a contraption and pushed a button.

"I love you, Spencer." Jessie's voice sounded out of the recorder. Reid felt his body flush and his heart began to race.

"Where'd you get that?" He asked.

"Your voice mail."

"You listened to my Voice Mail?" Reid was trying to change the subject. He didn't want to talk about Jessie, because it hurt too much.

"No. I listened to all of Jessie's Call Recordings. Hotch told me to log them all and listen for anything that we could use." Garcia said with a smile. "By the way, she didn't make any plans with this Richard guy. Ever!"

"Jessie doesn't make plans! She makes decisions. And executes them." Reid wasn't really mad. He was just… Conflicted.

Garcia sighed again. Then she took Reid's face in her hands and looked him straight in the eye before she spoke again. "Come on, Reid! Use that amazing brain of yours! Jessie loves you! You know that! Why do you think she'd tell you any deferent? What reason would she have to send you away? You know her inside and out. What was she thinking? What was she really saying?"

"I don't want you. You put too much pressure on me and so did Hotch. I don't want that job anymore than I want you. We fight too much and you're not good enough for me. You hardly understand me. Go! And leave us alone! I never want to see you again! I hate you!" Reid quoted everything that he remembered and the words slash him again."

"She's right. You don't understand her." Garcia persisted. "Think, Reid. How did she say it? What did she mean?"

"I don't know." Reid stood and broke her hold on him. He closed his eyes and saw the whole scene play out in front of him. He forced himself to stand outside his original position and take in the whole scene like a bystander. And then he saw what she saw. John Moser. He was behind Reid, with a knife in his hand. Reid examined Jessie's face as he ran through her whole speech again. Her eyes were on John half the time.

"Oh wow." Reid mumbled and opened his eyes. "Oh, oh, oh! She was protecting me!" Garcia clapped her hands together in excitement. "You're right. She does love me. Thanks Garcia." Reid kissed her cheek before he raced out of the room.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

"Do you know what she did?" John asked. Jessie shifted her weight so that she was directly behind Richard. "She kissed me!" John continued before Richard could reply.

"What? Why would she do that?" Richard was appalled. Not at the accusation, but at John's assumption that he would believe him. Jessie flushed but peaked at John with a sneaky smile.

"I don't know!" John took a step to the side and pointed the gun back at Jessie. "Ask her!"

Richard calmly turned and glanced at Jessie. She merely frowned as she was just as confused as he was.

"You're crazy." Richard said to John. And held his hand out for the gun. Jessie made sure that John was the only one who could see her triumph.

"She's trying to divide us. We're brothers. We must stick together. She shouldn't get in between us." John stepped away from Richard.

"I agree. John. Give me the gun. You don't need to hurt her. She's a part of us now."

"No she's not. She's too good. Too pretty, too smart, too young, too… too perfect." John straightened out as if something just clicked inside him. "She's exactly what I wanted too. And she'll make a great addition to my collection. I would enjoy killer her the most. I'd break every little perfect bone, cut through that perfect skin and down to her perfect muscles. Those eyes, I'll maybe keep – just for the color in them. And her hair! I'd keep a lock of it with me for as long as I live. And after all that, I'll kill her. you could have a part in all of that, brother."

Richard stepped back to Jessie and turned his back on John. Jessie was scared to death. And Richard was a blank slate.

"He sounds like those super villains," Jessie whispered in her attempt to bring Richard back to her, "describing his master plan, only to have it ripped out from under him by the super hero."

"Where's your super hero, Jessie?" John turned his eyes on her and mocked her name. "Oh that's right. You just told him that you hate him. You're all alone, aren't you?" John was winning. And Jessie was getting desperate.

"Richard." She reached out and touched his arm. She ran her fingers up and down his arm as if to warm it up, but she was trying to get his attention.

"You see that look in his eye? The wheels are turning and he's realizing that you are the best kill he'll ever have. You're worth more to him dead, than you are alive." John lowered the gun and relaxed. A jolt went through Jessie as she realized that death by the gun would have been much better than what John has planned for her. She felt hot and cold at the same time and her heart pumped even in her toes and fingers. She ignored the gag reflex as she tasted metal and blood in her mouth and she knew what was happening.

"Richard…" Jessie mumbled again, frozen in her fear.

"I'm going to enjoy this." John said. Richard's head shot up and looked at Jessie with new eyes. He pulled her close and kissed her tenderly.

"You really are perfect." Richard said and he sounded just like John. Jessie started crying. She gave up Reid for Richard, and now John was taking Richard away.

"I really do love you." She whispered in her last attempt as Richard turned his back on her. Her tears were gone. Her fate was sealed.

"It's Jessica!" Richard stated and launched himself at John.

At the office, Hotch stood with two arrest warrants and twenty armed people ready to take on Santio's house. Reid was one of them and with a clear mind on his priorities. He handed Garcia the engagement ring for safekeeping and listened to the strategy.

"Okay." Rossi added after Hotch's speech. "Let's get these creeps!"


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Jessie's scream was inaudible over the gunshot. She threw herself against the wall and watched as Richard fell to the floor. She started hyperventilating and crying uncontrollably. Although she knew that John should have been her main concern, she could not take her eyes off Richard. She couldn't help but think that he had been shot far enough away from his heart that he might survive it if he got immediate help.

Something cold touched her arm and she turned her attention to it. John was standing next to her and held a scalpel to her wrist. She didn't move. She merely lifted her eyes to his face. Tears were still streaming down her face but her sadness was ceasing. John lifted his free hand and cupped her face. Jessie got angry and looked away. She felt a strange tug go down her shirt and looked to see John cutting off the buttons with the scalpel. She turned her body to walk away but he grabbed her arm and turned it up. Jessie jolted back when she saw the blade in her face.

"So beautiful..." John whispered. Jessie knew that the only way getting out of this situation was by getting hurt. The only question she had was how much pain she could inflict on John. She took a moment to make him think he'd stopped her, and then she hit him in the gut before running away.

Before she could get far enough, John grabbed her from behind and dragged her to the floor. In the struggle, she felt her lose the shirt as the air-conditioning touched her bare skin. She kicked his face and scrambled to her feet. But he grabbed her by her waist and pulled her back down. With his arms around her legs, she couldn't kick him again, so she was stuck. But she didn't stop fighting. There was a deafening crash as the table was knocked down and all the glasses and plates shattered. Jessie struggled out of Johns grip and ended up in the shattered glass. Then, just as she got up, something sharp dug into her shoulder and it burnt deep into her muscles. Jessie arched her back away from the pain but it only got worse.

Jessie slowed down as pins and needles started spreading through her muscles. When the gun went off again, Jessie was shocked out of her confusion and John fell on his back. Jessie looked at him and saw a bloody syringe in his hand. And a bullet in his head. Richard dropped the gun and fell back to the floor. Jessie got up and crawled over to him. She could hear him breathing blood and she didn't know what to do.

"You…" Richard struggled.

"Shhhhhh..." Jessie hushed him and wiped his curls out of his eyes.

"…should… get help." He continued.

Jessie shook her head and felt a pang of nausea strike her along with a strange disorientation.

"Jessica." He slurred before his head fell back and his heart stopped beating.

Jessie sat there in shock. She wasn't sure of how much time had passed but at some point she snapped out of her daze and started running. She knew it was night time and would be cold outside, so she grabbed a jacket and threw it on. The doors were still locked with pin codes and she couldn't get out. The giant house suddenly felt very small as it pushed in on her. Fighting a haze that was threatening to put her to sleep, Jessie ran up the stairs and to the attic stairway. She slowly calculated the distance down to the ground and crawled over to the corner where she guessed a gutter pipe might be. She moved the roof tiles one by one to make a space big enough for her to climb onto the roof and then slipped through.

The SWAT team broke through the doors and raced in with guns at the ready. Some went up stairs and the others went down into the basement. And just a few, including the BAU searched around the main floor. They found two men dead and blood all over the place. But no Jessie.

Jessie knew her balance was already screwed up but at that point it was worse. To her greatest happiness, there was in fact a gutter pipe and she climbed down slowly. Upon reaching the ground, she took off into the dark back yard, not really knowing where to go.


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Reid was terrified that they had already killed and disposed of Jessie. The entire house was clear and they found nothing else. They broke through the back door and checked in the shed. But still found nothing. Reid walked out of the shed and considered options other than Jessie's death. Maybe they let her go. Or she escaped before the fight had happened. Then he saw movement out of the corner of his eye.

Halfway through the back yard, Jessie stopped. She couldn't see anything anymore because she was crying so much. Her strength failed and she collapsed to the ground. Reid's heart leaped when he recognized Jessie and he took off running after her. He fell down to his knees beside her and touched her. She was crying and burying her face in her hands but as he touched her shoulder she yelped and leaned away from his touch. She looked up and saw him, confusion clear on her face.

"What are you doing here?" she asked between deep calming breaths.

"I came to rescue you." Reid said simply. He saw blood on her face and hands and in her hair and needed to take her to the Medics.

"Why?" she asked stupidly.

"Because I love you." He answered and her expression changed into something unfathomable. She pushed him away with sloppy anger and fought to keep her balance.

"Why would you?" she asked and a hint of happiness leaked into a chuckle. She wiped her tears and dosed out for a second, not expecting an answer. She lost her balance and fell back. The jacket slid open and Reid could see a bloody mess on her hip. Her head fell back and Reid caught her before she fell flat on her back.

"Medic!" He yelled as he picked her up and carried her around the house to the ambulance.

"I'm sorry." Jessie whispered between consciousnesses.

"Hey. Shh…" Reid tried to calm her down. Tears were streaming down her face.

When Reid reached the ambulance, the Medic helped Jessie onto her feet. He told her not to sit down until he knows the extent of her injuries.

Reid was absolutely mortified as the paramedic took off Jessie's leather jacket. Blood was running down her back and she had a bruise forming over her ribs. Jessie swayed again and Reid tightened his grip on her, grudging the fact that Jessie had to stand up while the Medic checked her out. The fact that she was only wearing jeans and a bra at this point didn't help his anger. It was cold, and Jessie's body was too messed up at that point to register the temperature.

As soon as Morgan saw Reid carry Jessie over to the ambulance, he wrapped up his conversation and walked over. He arrived just as the medic took the jacket off and his eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Okay, you can sit." The medic told Jessie and she leaned back onto the high stretcher. And with a sigh, she leaned her head forward, into Reid's shoulder.

"What?" she asked Morgan groggily after she noticed him staring. He immediately looked away and found that Reid was staring angrily at him.

"Looks like he messed you up real bad." Morgan answered Jessie but she was already fighting sleep again. "And to be honest, you really are beautiful."

Jessie made a poor growling sound in the back of her throat as she lazily swatted her hand at him. Pain shot through her arm and she noticed shards of glass on the side of her hand. It seemed that they made no sense to her, as she frowned.

"Jessie," Reid had a thought. "Why did you run? through the back yard? There's nothing back there."

"I did?" Jessie's frown deepened in confusion. "Why?"

"I don't know, I'm asking you." Reid breathed a laugh. Jessie was so out of it. He kissed her on the forehead and sighed.

Jessie tried to fight the threatening sleep by blinking.

"S'car." She mumbled.

"Mmmmmm?" Reid was falling asleep too.

"Richard…" She sighed deeply and winced at the pain. "He… the car… he parks it in the next yard. Behind the trees…. Shed… in… a shed… thing."

Morgan ran to Hotch and told him, what Jessie just said. Hotch sent a few agents to check it out and they found the black matte van and another car.

"I controlled your bleeding. They'll have to put stitches in at the ER." The medic woke Jessie for just a second. And he made sure that Reid understood. "You can go with her in the ambulance."

Reid helped Jessie into the ambulance and onto the stretcher. Morgan poked his head in and started saying something but changed his mind.

"I'm glad you're okay." Morgan said before he closed the ambulance door.


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

Reid and Jessie arrived at the Hospital, both nearly passed out. After Jessie endured X-rays, stitching and bindings, she was taken to a room to sleep. Reid never left her side and fell asleep on a bed beside her. The next morning Morgan woke Reid up and convinced him to go to the hotel and wash up. It only worked because the Hotel was down the block from the hospital, and because Morgan promised to call incase Jessie woke up.

When Reid returned, Garcia was there with breakfast, knowing that he skipped on that in his hurry.

Jessie slept the whole day and it eventually started freaking Reid out.

"Doctor." Reid called out in the hallway. "She's been sleeping all day. It's not normal."

"She had a lot of morphine in her. Double the normal dosage. Some, she got before she was even admitted. We wouldn't have given her any if we had known that she was already dosed. But we checked her blood work. She should be waking up in the next hour."

"Doctor?" Morgan asked. "What's the damage?"

"She's got 25 stitches on her back, eight between the two hands, and seven on her hip, a broken rib, and a bump on the head. She's been through worse."

"I meant the double dose of morphine?" Morgan was wide eyed.

"Oh, I'm sorry. There'll be no damage from the morphine. Unless she's a junky, which she's clearly not."

"Thank you doctor."

Reid paced up and down the hallway and walked right into Hotch. He came with flowers.

"Is she okay?" Hotch asked and handed the flowers to Reid.

"She's still sleeping. The doctors are in there making sure she's fine." Reid said simply.

After a few minutes of silence, Reid set the flowers down, and faced Hotch head on.

"Hotch, why did you hire Jessie? Is there something...?" Reid asked but he didn't really want to think about it.

"Strauss found out about Jessie's input in the Walker case. She wanted her on the team. Strauss was willing to fire someone in order to make room. I talked to Jessie about it. She didn't want anyone fired so she agreed to do a few cases with the team until we can find a way to keep everyone. She gave Strauss a few hefty conditions to her working full time on the team. And now it's entirely up to Strauss. Jessie wasn't keeping anything from you. Strauss told her not to mention it until she comes back with the final word from her boss. When JJ went to take care of Henry, I didn't even think about Jessie, but she called about a meeting with Strauss and then she volunteered to join us. I hope she's better soon. You two belong together."

"Thanks, Hotch."

"I'm going to the cafeteria to get some coffee; you want to come with me?" Hotch offered.

"I will." Morgan said.

Reid glanced to Jessie's room and considered it. Then he saw something that stopped his heart.

"She's crying!" Reid said and rushed into to room.

"We'll be downstairs." Hotch said and left with Morgan. Reid nodded and planted himself on Jessie's side.

"She's dreaming." The doctor said as he pointed at all the medical equipment that was attached to Jessie. "She's in stage five. She'll wake up soon."

Then the doctor left. Reid reached for Jessie's hand and held on gently. Jessie twitched a little before opening her eyes.

"Spencer." She acknowledged him while blinking her tears away. "I'm sorry." She continued to cry.

"Shhh…" Reid stroked her face and wiped the tears away. "Jessie, I love you."

Jessie stopped crying long enough to stare at him and then started all over. Reid hovered, not knowing where he could touch her to calm her down and settle for her face. He held her face and touched his brow to hers and looked deep into her eyes. A smile broke on Jessie's face and she threw her arms around him and didn't let go.

After Jessie calmed down, she wanted to start talking. An officer came to record everything she said about the last few days so that they could close the case. Hotch and Morgan took turns asking her questions and she answered in heart wrenching detail. She spoke about the time when Reid left her and how she and Richard had met. She told them everything she knew about him and John. She only stopped talking when she got emotional or when Reid got mad. When everyone left, Jessie and Reid talked about the deeper things. They used big words and long descriptions about how they felt.

Hotch notified Garcia and Prentiss that Jessie had woken and the three of them, along with Morgan, stood outside Jessie's room and waited. After a while, Garcia knocked on the door and they joined Jessie and Reid in the room.

"Looking better." Morgan commented. Garcia ran around the bed and hugged Jessie.

"We were so worried!" Garcia exclaimed. And then Jessie and Garcia got talking like they were old friends catching up. The doctor came in again and Jessie refused to eat the hospital food. Jessie even got off the bed to go to the bathroom and walk around the room to stretch.

"Hey, Garcia." Reid said when Jessie was talking with Morgan. "Will you do me a favor? I know you've already done so much, but I know you'd want to do this anyway."

"Anything."

When Jessie refused to eat, the doctor went in to argue with her and he walked out wondering how he managed to lose that argument.

By eight o'clock, Prentiss returned with a bag of newly bought clothes and Jessie's credit card. Reid wasn't in the room, so Jessie quickly got dressed and was ready to go home.

Reid was surprised to find her fully dressed and waiting for him on the bed.

"You're leaving?" he asked.

"I convinced the doctor to let me go home tonight." Jessie said with a smile. She held her hand out and pulled Reid closer. "And you're going with me. I'm never letting you go again."

Reid smiled and tried to figure around the plans he and Garcia made.

"Okay, but I got to go somewhere first." He pulled gently and she stepped off the bed.

"No. Where are you going?" Jessie held his hand firmly so that he wouldn't let go.

"I'm not leaving the hospital; I have to talk to the Doctor. I think Garcia wants to show you something." Reid pulled Jessie into the hallway and looked up and down for Garcia. She appeared around a corner and headed their way.

"You're all dressed up!" Garcia said happily.

"You'll take her, Garcia?" Reid asked and gently let go of Jessie's hand.

"Yes my liege." Garcia took Jessie's hand and patted the bandages. Reid took off down the hall and Jessie stayed with Garcia. "Let's go, mon ami."

"Can we come too?" Prentiss asked curiously.

"Uhm." Garcia had to think. "I'm sure. Yes." She said but she wasn't sure.

"Where are we going?" Rossi showed up with flowers and hugged Jessie quickly and handed them to her. Garcia put the flowers in Jessie's room and ran back to Jessie's side.

"Uhm. Wait. Stay here."Garcia motioned to Hotch, Prentiss, Morgan and Rossi. "No. Reid wants to talk to you. So call him. And find out where he is." Garcia was trying very hard not to drop any hints.

And then Garcia pulled Jessie down the hall. They got in an elevator and went down. Then Garcia pulled her into another Elevator and they went up again. They walked up and down several halls and ended up at a set of emergency stairs. Garcia opened the door to the stairs and pushed Jessie through. They walked up the stairs and Garcia pushed the door open. They were on the roof.

It was dark out but there were candles lighting the entire roof. Jessie blushed and looked at Garcia. Garcia seemed to be ready to spring out of her skin with excitement. The door shut behind them and Jessie knew where to go. A few steps forward and she laid eyes on Reid. Her heart began to race and she had to remind herself to breathe.

"Isn't it perfect?" Garcia blurted out. Jessie quickly looked at her and then smiled.

"No."Jessie said and turned her eyes back to Reid. "It's better."

Jessie walked the last few steps to Reid as he held out his hand.

"I thought you'd be stuck in the hospital for a few more days," he said. "I didn't want to wait. So I got Garcia to help. Is it later yet?"

"Later than what?" Jessie wondered.

"You said to ask again later."

"Yes, it's later now."

"I want to do this right this time." While holding onto her hand, Reid drops down to one knee. In the corner of her eye, Jessie can see Garcia joining the rest of the team in watching from a distance.

(* "If we have to wait for perfection, nothing would ever be finished. – Chinese Proverb" *)

The end.


End file.
